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COPYFUGHT DEPOSIT. 




A DOMINICAN CAPRESSE 



THE BOOK OF THE 
WEST INDIES 



BY 



A. HYATT VERRILL 

AUTHOR OF 
PORTO RICO, PAST AND PRESENT," "THE OCEAN AND ITS 
MYSTERIES," ETC., ETC. 




NEW YORK 

E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY 

681 FIFTH AVENUE 

1917 



F/6J/ 



COPYRIGHT 19 17 



E. P. DUTTON & CO. 



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Printed in the United States of America 

V 



-7 1917 



©GI.A476976 




PREFACE 



Stretching in a vast semicircle, from Florida 
to the tip of South America, lies the archipelago 
known as the West Indies. 

With marvelous climate, their shores washed 
by the bluest of blue seas, ever swept by the re- 
freshing trade winds, luxuriant beyond words, 
inexpressibly beautiful, and varying in character 
from awe-inspiring, rugged masses of mile-high 
mountains to low-lying sandy cays, the West 
Indies afford interests and attractions to suit 
every taste. 

No two are alike; each possesses an individual- 
ity, a charm, a fascination all its own. If you 
seek quiet and rest, there are spots in these lovely 
isles where time has stood still for centuries; if 
fond of history and memories of the brave and 
bloody deeds of the past, you will find interest a 
plenty in the Antilles. Here was the cradle of 
European civilization in the New World; here 
was the haunt of pirate and buccaneer; here the 
great nations of Europe struggled for supremacy 
through centuries, and here are buildings, scenes, 

iii 



IV 



PREFACE 



and ways of life contemporaneous with Columbus 
and his mail-clad conquistadores. 

Or, if one desires magnificent scenery; if lus- 
cious fruits, gorgeous flowers, marvelous plants, 
stupendous cataracts, lofty peaks, or sublime 
active volcanoes, appeal to you, the West Indies 
will provide them all. On the other hand, he 
who feels lost without all the comforts and con- 
veniences, the news and the accompaniments 
and luxuries of twentieth-century civilization, he 
who seeks great cities, golf, horse-racing, dances, 
balls, society, — even the opera, — may find all 
these in the West Indies. 

Here, almost at our doors — within from three 
to ten days' sail of New York — are some fifty 
islands varying in size from Cuba — vast and con- 
tinental with its length of eight hundred miles — 
to tiny islet gems a few acres in extent. Here 
one may dwell amidst all the luxuries and moder- 
nity of up-to-date cities teeming with hundreds 
of thousands of inhabitants ©r one may live in 
sleepy, age-old towns and quaint villages quite 
out of the world. One may travel by Pullman 
express trains for day after day through a scenic 
wonderland, may whirr over perfect roads in 
luxurious automobiles, or, again, may follow 
narrow trails on horse or donkey back in lands 
where a wheeled vehicle was never seen. 

Even climate may be found to suit the most 



PREFACE v 

exacting. You may bask in the sunshine and 
bathe in the azure tepid water beneath waving 
palms if you love the ardent heat of the tropics; 
you may find a climate of perpetual June on the 
verdured hills where roses bloom forever, or, at 
a higher altitude, you may find an overcoat use- 
ful and will shiver under double blankets at night. 

Perhaps the very diversity in the West Indies 
is their greatest charm, for the people are as varied 
as the scenery and climate of their island homes. 
Spanish, French, Dutch, British, — each island 
reflects, in a measure, the characteristics of its 
mother country and the customs, habits, language, 
and ways of each are adhered to most tenaciously. 

It is like traveling from one European nation 
to another to tour the islands. One day you are 
beneath the white-crossed, scarlet flag of Den- 
mark; the next, you are under the banner of old 
England. You fall asleep with the strains of " God 
Save the King" wafted to you from the British 
fort, and gaze shoreward the next morning to 
see the tricolor fluttering above a typically French 
town. You spend a forenoon strolling about a 
town which might be on Mediterranean shores 
and with the soft babel of Spanish in your ears, 
and, ere nightfall, look upon tiled roofs, chimney- 
pots, and dormer windows, with busy market- 
women clattering about in wooden shoes, while 
"Yah Mynheer" greets your wondering ears, 



vi PREFACE 

and you feel as if you had been whisked from 
Spain to Holland. You pay your boatman in 
shillings and pence, and, a few hours after, are 
bargaining with another in francs and centimes, 
and, ere another day has ended, you may be 
striving to mentally reduce guilders to dollars or 
patacon to centavos and pesetas. And if you 
don't like foreign ways, if you feel strange and ill 
at ease amid people whose speech you cannot 
grasp, you need not despair, for Uncle Sam also 
has a foothold in this polyglot archipelago, and 
of all the charming islands, few can boast greater 
attractions, more historic interest, or more numer- 
ous advantages than the isle above which waves 
the Stars and Stripes. 

That Americans have not long ago more fully 
awakened to the attractions, advantages, and 
lures of the West Indies is amazing. Until the 
European War, thousands of our citizens went 
to the Riviera, to the Mediterranean, to the Orient, 
and elsewhere seeking the very climate, the same 
scenery, and the identical things to be found so 
much nearer to our shores. Even to-day, when 
the American tropics are more in the public eye 
than ever before, few Americans have a correct 
idea of what the West Indies offer or the truth 
about them. 

But in a way our people cannot be too greatly 
blamed, for our British cousins are almost as 



PREFACE vii 

ignorant of their West Indian colonies as are 
Americans. Indeed the lack of knowledge, even 
among officials, is incredible, and the following 
anecdote, told to me by a government official of 
the British West Indies, may serve as an illustra- 
tion of this. The official, a retired army officer, 
was appointed to a post in Nevis. Anxious to 
learn something of his new home he made many 
inquiries but no one could give him information. 
At last he sought a government gazette and found 
the following: "Nevis, one of the Leeward Islands. 
Subject to earthquakes, epidemics, and hurricanes. 
Chief town submerged." 

Such misconceptions in regard to the islands 
have, no doubt, done much to prevent an interest 
in them and while a few, such as Cuba, Porto 
Rico, and Jamaica, are becoming popular winter 
resorts, yet the great majority of the West Indies, — 
the most beautiful, the most interesting, and the 
most delightful are terra incognita to most people. 

Even those who have heard of the smaller 
islands have no tangible ideas in regard to them, 
until they have actually visited the islands. They 
appear so minute and unimportant on the maps — 
mere pin points in comparison with the mainland, 
— that it is difficult to realize that they are really 
large, that they are covered by mile-high moun- 
tains, that they support large towns and cities, or 
that they are worth visiting. 



viii PREFACE 

It is invariably a wonderful surprise to the 
stranger when he first sights these "specks" of 
land and finds the shore-line stretching away from 
horizon to horizon in a succession of towering 
mountains, broad valleys, and wide plains. 

Still another popular idea is that the West 
Indies are unbearably hot; that because they are 
near the equator they must be torrid in tempera- 
ture, and that they are hotbeds of disease and 
swarm with noxious insects and poisonous reptiles. 

All this is absolute nonsense. The islands are 
far healthier than many of our Northern cities; 
yellow fever is unknown in most of them, and 
has not occurred for thirty or forty years in any 
of the smaller islands, and two of the West Indies 
— Cuba and Porto Rico — lead the entire world 
in point of health. 

As to climate, the West Indies are never as hot 
as our own towns in midsummer. The tempera- 
ture rarely rises above 85 °, there is a variation of 
only a few degrees throughout the year, and sun- 
stroke and heat prostration are unknown. The 
trade winds blow ceaselessly, showers keep every- 
thing fresh and green, and, best of all, the houses, 
clothing, and life are all adapted to a warm climate. 

Insect pests are far less abundant than in the 
North, flies are not as troublesome, there are few 
mosquitoes — save in swampy districts where no 
visitor is likely to live — and only in one or two 



PREFACE ix 

islands are there any poisonous snakes, and, where 
these do occur, they are extremely rare — far 
rarer than the venomous reptiles in the vicinity 
of New York City. It is to destroy such errone- 
ous ideas of the West Indies, to paint them in 
their true colors, to point out their manifold 
attractions, charms, beauties, and peculiarities, 
and to provide a reliable, concise, and yet complete 
handbook on the West Indies that this book has 
been written. 

My greatest regret is that space is so limited, 
that little can be said of some of the most delight- 
ful and loveliest of the Caribbees; but perhaps 
it is just as well that everything is not described; 
that all the charms and interests of the islands 
are not mentioned. There is all the more incen- 
tive for my readers to visit the islands, to learn 
and discover for themselves, and, in doing this, 
they will come to love and appreciate the West 
Indies the more. 

Hyatt Verrill 

September First, 

Nineteen Seventeen 



CONTENTS 

PACE 

Prologue, Introducing the West Indies . i 

CHAPTER 

I. — Bermuda . . . .10 

II. — The Virgin Isles .... 31 

III. — Islands quite out of the World . 40 

IV. — vSt. Kitts and Nevis ... 47 

V. — Antigua and its Neighbors . . 55 

VI. — Guadeloupe, where Waves the 

Tricolor 65 

VII. — Dominica, the Caribbean Wonder- 
land ...... 72 

VIII. — Martinique, the Land of Josephine 81 

IX. — St. Lucia, an Island Stronghold . 88 

X. — Barbados : the Tight Little, Right 

Little Island .... 98 

XI. — St. Vincent, a Neglected Eden . 121 

XII. — Grenada, the Isle of Spice . .129 

XIII. — Trinidad, the Magnificent . . 144 
xi 



xii CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XIV. — Santo Domingo, the Historic . 174 

XV. — Porto Rico, our West Indian 

Colony 227 

XVI. — Jamaica, the Island where a 

Pirate Ruled . . . .261 

XVII. — The Bahamas, Islands of the 

Pink Pearl .... 289 

XVIII. — Cuba, the Pearl of the Antilles . 300 

APPENDIX 

Glossary of the West Indies . 351 

Useful Bits of Information . . 441 

Index 453 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



A Dominican Capresse . . Frontispiece 

Old Fort, Porto Rico . . . . v 

Old Church, Antigua xvii 

Old Bell-Tower, Jamaica .... 9 
Map of Bermuda . . . . .12 
Cut Coral Ready to be Used as Building 

Stone, Bermuda 17 

Cathedral Rocks, Bermuda . . . 20 

Natural Arch, Bermuda .... 20 

Shark's Hole, Bermuda .... 26 

Inscription on Spanish Rocks, Bermuda . 30 

Pirates' Island, Samana Bay, Santo Domingo 31 

Landing Place, St. Thomas ... 32 

Sugar Estate, St. Croix 32 

Old Fort, St. Thomas 39 

St. Eustatius from the Sea. ... 40 

Church of St. Joseph, Jamaica ... 46 

Basseterre, St. Kitts .... 48 



XIV 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



The Circus, St. Kitts .... 

Old Fort, Entrance to Antigua Harbor 

View of St. John, Antigua ! 

montserrat from the sea 

Wild Birds, Dominica 

Old Bridge, Guadeloupe 

Carib Fishing Canoes 

souffriere, dominica 

Carib Girl, Dominica . 

Entrance to Botanic Garden, Dominica 

Harbor, The Lesser Antilles 

Fort Royal (Fort de France), Martinique 

Fort de France, Martinique 

Coaling a Ship, St. Lucia . 

Pitons, St. Lucia .... 

Gathering Sea Eggs, Barbados . 

The Wind-Swept Mahogany Trees, Bar 
bados 

A Barbados Road 

A Barbados Landscape 

On the Windward Coast, Barbados 

A Bit of Water-Front, St. Vincent 

Nutmegs Growing, Grenada 



Pit -.3 

4 8 

55 
59 
62 

64 

71 

72 

74 
76 

79 
80 
81 
86 
86 
88 
100 

100 
in 
in 
120 
128 
129 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



xv 



PAGE 

St. George, Grenada 129 

Street in St. George, Grenada . . . 129 
Port of Spain, Trinidad .... 144 
Opening Cocoa Pods, Trinidad . . . 147 
A Coolie Girl, Trinidad .... 152 
The Blue Basin, Trinidad .... 158 
Entering the Bocas, Trinidad . . .163 
Digging Asphalt, Trinidad . . . .163 
The High Woods, Trinidad . . .166 

A Riding Bull, San Domingo . . .180 

The Gate in City Wall, San Domingo. . 204 

Homenaje Tower, San Domingo . . . 204 

Tomb of Columbus, San Domingo . . 208 

Puerto Plata, San Domingo . . . 226 

The Morro, Porto Rico .... 227 

Map of the City of San Juan . . . 229 

Street in Ponce, Porto Rico . . . 234 

City Wall and Casa Blanca, Porto Rico . 234 

Comercio Valley, Porto Rico . . . 241 

Martin Pena Bridge, Porto Rico . . 246 

Tobacco under Shade, Porto Rico . . 246 

Auto-Road Map of Porto Rico . . . 250 



XVI 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



The Meeting of the Old and New, Porto 
Rico 

A Mountain Highway, Porto Rico 

San Juan and Colon Plaza, Porto Rico 

San Domingo 

Map of Jamaica . 

Along the Shore, Jamaica 

Blue Hole, Jamaica . 

Fort Fincastle, Nassau 

The Morro at Santiago de Cuba 

Map of Havana . 

Street in Santiago de Cuba 

Church of the Angels, Cuba 

Calle Obispo, Cuba 

The Prado, Havana, Cuba . 

Principe Fort, Havana 

In Cuba .... 

Wreck on the Shore, Bermuda 



254 
254 
258 
260 
262 
269 
288 

299 
300 
302 
306 
312 
312 
316 

35i 
352 
440 



The Book of the West Indies 



PROLOGUE 

INTRODUCING THE WEST INDIES 

A great many people — the majority one might 
almost say — have but a very vague idea of the 
West Indies. Nearly everyone knows they are 
"somewhere down South"; many are aware that 
they are north of South America; a large propor- 
tion can name Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, St. Thomas, 
and Porto Rico; a few may Be able to add Marti- 
nique and Barbados to the list, but scarce one in 
a thousand can recall the names of the other islands 
or can give any accurate information in regard to 
the climate, people, nationality, products, or other 
features of the islands; their size, or their relative 
positions. 

In some pigeon-hole in the minds of most people 
is a dim and hazy recollection of school-day knowl- 
edge of the West Indies,— a half -forgotten memory 
of a scant page in the geography devoted to the 



2 THE WEST INDIES 

islands, a brief statement that they were hot, 
pestilential, peopled by negroes, subject to earth- 
quakes and hurricanes, and that their sole contri- 
butions to the world's wealth were sugar and 
rum. As to their appearance, a few rude wood- 
cuts come to mind ; pictures of half-naked negresses 
dancing to the strum of banjos in rubbish-littered, 
squalid streets; of broad-hatted, besashed, fierce- 
whiskered horsemen holding menacing whips 
above black minstrel-like laborers; of frantic 
people, rushing through a chaos of flashing light- 
ning, inky clouds, and flying, shattered trees, or 
perchance, even a small map, whereon were 
numerous pink, yellow, and green dots collectively 
labeled "The West Indies." 

With such meager knowledge of these islands and 
with such erroneous ideas in regard to them, it 
is something of a shock to learn the truth, to 
visit the islands, and to find our half-formed 
conceptions totally shattered and cast to the 
winds. 

As one steams, day after day, along a coast 
stretching inland to distant mile-high mountains 
it is indeed difficult to believe that the seemingly 
interminable shores are those of one of the "specks" 
on the map and not of a continent. As we travel 
in luxurious Pullman express trains through mar- 
velous scenery, past palatial homes and vast 
cultivated fields hour after hour, — for a day 



PROLOGUE 3 

and a night and more, — it seems impossible that 
we are on one of these colored dots of our geog- 
raphies. And when, instead of gamboling ne- 
gresses in filthy mudholes, we see trolley cars and 
motor cars, perfectly dressed men, and women 
who might have stepped from the latest Parisian 
fashion-plate, broad asphalt boulevards and huge 
department stores, we begin to realize how little 
we really know of the world beyond our narrow 
sphere of daily life. 

To many it will come as a distinct surprise to 
learn that Cuba, placed upon the map of the 
United States, would stretch from New York to 
Indianapolis and would cover a space the entire 
width of New Jersey; that Santo Domingo is as 
large as the State of Maine, is three times the size 
of Belgium, and only a trifle smaller than Portu- 
gal; that more shipping enters and leaves the 
harbor of Havana than any other port in America, 
with the exception of New York; that two of the 
"pestilential" West Indian islands rank first and 
second of all the countries in the world in point 
of health; that the first university in America 
was in the West Indies and that students were 
taught and graduated from this college a hundred 
years ere the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, 
and, finally, that to visit all the islands, without 
making a stop or going over the same route twice, 
would mean a voyage of twelve thousand miles 



4 THE WEST INDIES 

and would require over a month of steady steam- 
ing day and night! 

i Ordinarily the West Indies are divided into 
two groups, the Greater and Lesser Antilles, but 
in reality they are separated into several divisions, 
known as, the Greater Antilles, the Bahamas, 
the Virgin Islands, the Leeward Islands, the Wind- 
ward Islands, and the Coast Islands, some of 
which are political divisions and others geographi- 
cal, but which are well-defined, well-recognized, 
and serve to obviate confusion. 

From Cuba, barely ninety miles from Key 
West at the tip of the Florida Keys, the islands 
stretch in a broken, irregular semicircle to the 
northern coast of South America, and, within the 
barrier thus formed, enclose the vast, almost 
land-locked, Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mex- 
ico, — a body of water, to cross which, one must 
sail as far as from New York to Liverpool. And 
of vital importance to us is this great expanse of 
enclosed sea. In fact, the very life and existence 
of our country and our people depend upon it, 
for this is the source of the Gulf Stream, that 
stupendous, ever-moving, ocean river of warm 
water which flows northward off our coast and 
makes life and vegetation possible in a land which 
otherwise would be a frigid waste. 

Through the narrow openings between the 
Lesser Antilles the ceaseless trade winds and the 



PROLOGUE 5 

revolution of the earth force the waters from 
the broad Atlantic, and, rinding no other outlet, 
the water rushes out between the Greater Antilles 
and through the Straits of Florida. Immeasur- 
able in its immensity and resistless force, is this 
greatest of streams, but some faint conception of 
its volume may be gained from the fact that 
through the Florida Straits alone there flows each 
day a mass of water equal to three hundred thou- 
sand Mississippi Rivers! 

Yet, despite this stupendous overflow of water 
which escapes, the sea, within the .chain of islands, 
is ever piled higher than the ocean without, and 
thus we have the strange phenomenon of islands 
on whose one coast the tide rises and falls six feet 
or more, while on the other the rise and fall is not 
as many inches. Ages ago, no doubt, the Carib- 
bean was an inland sea and the string of islands 
was a continuous mountain chain, connecting 
the two Americas, studded with volcanoes vomit- 
ing flame, smoke, and ashes, and of height beyond 
the power of imagination. Even to-day, countless 
West Indian mountains tower a mile or more into 
the air, and Loma Tina, in Santo Domingo, lifts 
its cloud-wreathed head eleven thousand feet 
above the sea. And yet these would be but in- 
significant hillocks compared to the serried crest 
of the prehistoric borderland of the Caribbean, 
ere some awful cataclysm of the past lowered 



6 THE WEST INDIES 

that array of sky-piercing volcanoes and allowed 
the sea to flow above the submerged land to form 
the West Indies. Many of the islands rise four 
miles from the sea floor; off the northern coast of 
Porto Rico are depths of 27,000 feet and more, 
and, if the ocean should be swept back or the sea 
dried away, the Bahamas and Cuba would ap- 
pear as a terrific, precipitous plateau 20,000 feet 
in height and stretching for over 700 miles, its 
sheer face cut and seamed by awful rifts, in which 
the Grand Canyon might be hidden, and sweep- 
ing southward for 200 miles to where the Sierra 
Maestra would tower to the dizzying height of 
28,000 feet. 

But, perchance these submerged mountains, 
these titanic precipices, and these vast, coral- 
covered plains, now miles beneath the sea, have 
never seen the light of day, for there are those 
who claim that the islands have been separated 
since the world began, that they are merely iso- 
lated volcanic cones, pushed up from the ocean's 
bed to belch forth molten, incandescent material, 
which, through countless ages, has decomposed 
to form the rich and fertile lands now luxuriant 
with vegetation and pleasant for man to dwell 
upon. Which theory is right we may never 
know, but it is certain that all of the West Indies 
are not volcanoes. The Greater Antilles — Cuba, 
Jamaica, Santo Domingo, and Porto Rico — are as 



PROLOGUE 7 

ancient in formation as our own granite hills and 
are continental in fauna and flora, while Tobago, 
Trinidad, Curacao, and the Coast Islands are 
merely detached bits of South America separated 
from the mainland in the dim forgotten ages of 
the past. Still others of these isles, such as the 
Bahamas, St. Croix, Barbados, and others, are 
of limestone — "coral islands" so-called. But in 
reality they are not coral at all in the true sense 
of the term, for they are merely masses of wind- 
drifted shore sand, — composed of wave-worn, 
broken shells and fragments of coral, — which, 
through the centuries, have become firmly ce- 
mented together by the percolating rains. Firm 
and solid as granite, fine as marble, are the rocks 
and cliffs of these islands, and it is difficult to 
believe that they are simply hardened sand hills, 
but if he who doubts examines a section of the 
rock beneath a microscope, he will find the bits 
of shells and coral still intact and embedded in 
the crystalized lime deposited around them by 
the evaporating water. 

The present is of more interest than the past, 
however, and whatever the origin of the islands, 
whether partly sunken continent, protruding, 
isolated peaks, or petrified sand dunes, they are 
all wonderfully beautiful, riotous in color, mar- 
velous in scenery, and veritable Edens of tropic 
loveliness, luxuriant vegetation, and balmy air. 



8 THE WEST INDIES 

Here nature flaunts every tint and shade in lavish 
abandon; here sun and cloud vie with each other 
to produce magical effects of light and shade ; here 
the unsullied air glows luminous as though filled 
with floating gold dust, and sky and sea seem as 
of another world than ours. Glorious as are the 
days in these lotus-eating, dreamland isles of 
perpetual summer, even more enchanting are the 
nights. Above, arches the velvet sky, sprinkled 
with myriads of scintillating, twinkling stars, like 
the riding lights of fairy ships afloat upon a purple 
sea. Luminously black is the air, sweet with the 
sensuous odor of jasmine, orange flower, and gar- 
denia, and, borne on the balmy, caressing breeze, 
is the soft swash of gently lapping waves, the 
sleepy tinkle of fountains, the querulous cry of 
night-birds, the distant sound of laughter and song, 
and the languorous music of guitars. From the 
mysterious shadows of the mountains comes the 
weird boom of a tom-tom, filling the world with 
dull reverberations like the staccato beats of 
a gigantic pulse. Against the inky background 
of trees and shrubbery gleam countless fireflies, 
flitting aimlessly, erratically, — like tiny stars 
gone astray and seeking to find their way to the 
vault of heaven from which they fell. Above the 
dim horizon blazes the Southern Cross and, over 
all — calm, serene — like a mellow, golden globe, 
floats the great tropic moon, outlining each rus- 



PROLOGUE 9 

tling leaf, each swaying bough with a tracery of 
silver, transforming the housetops to sheets of 
burnished metal, filling the scented air with 
effulgent light, and silhouetting the nodding palms 
that stand, like plumed sentinels, above a wave- 
washed beach of diamond dust. 




CHAPTER I 

BERMUDA 

Hundreds of miles from any coast, surrounded 
on every side by the restless surges of the great 
Atlantic — a mere speck in a waste of sea — lies 
Bermuda. While not strictly one of the West 
Indies, yet its fauna and flora, its products and 
its formation, are so similar to many of the Antilles 
that we may well consider it as a West Indian 
island gone astray, and set down, — or rather 
pushed up, — a thousand miles and more from its 
fellows. 

If the ship arrives at Bermuda by daylight 
there is ample opportunity for the visitor to view 
the islands, as the vessel steams slowly along the 
northern shores and threads her way through 
the tortuous channel between sharp-fanged reefs 
towards Hamilton. 

And vastly disappointing is this first impression 
of the Bermudas. You have looked for a bit of 
Eden, — a palm-fringed isle such as those pictured 
atolls in the geographies perhaps, — and, instead, 
you gaze upon a low-lying waste of white, topped 

10 



BERMUDA II 

and broken by stunted, dull-green cedars; a land- 
scape as bleak and sterile as the granite-ribbed 
sheep pastures of New England. 

Here and there glaring white buildings stand 
sharply forth against the monotony of the cedars, 
gradually the foliage increases and loses some of 
its dull, half-dead appearance, and when, at last, 
the steamer passes between the verdured islets 
in Hamilton Harbor and nears the docks, much 
of the hills and vales is well-clothed in greenery. 

But with all its charms, and they are many, 
Bermuda is far from truly tropical and if you seek 
the luxuriant vegetation, the gorgeous coloring, 
the balmy, voluptuous air, and the sights and 
scenes of tropic lands, Bermuda will prove far 
from your ideal. You must travel farther, to 
the Caribbean isles, to find such sights and scenes, 
for the natural vegetation of Bermuda is not rank 
and colorful, the life and customs are similar to 
our own, and only where introduced by man are 
there palms, flowers, and fruits typical of the real 
tropics. And this is not surprising, for Bermuda 
is far north of the tropics — the farthest north of 
any spot where tropical life and plants exist in a 
natural state — and its semi-tropical climate, where 
snow and frost are unknown, is due to its location 
in the Gulf Stream beyond the reach of wintry 
winds and Arctic Current. 

We speak of Bermuda as of a single island, but, 



12 THE WEST INDIES 

in reality, it is a group, or cluster, of more than 
one hundred islets, — a bare half-dozen of which 
are worthy of the name, — and which are so con- 
nected by bridges, causeways, and roads as to 
form, to all intents and purposes, a single island, 
the whole scarce twenty-five miles long, less than 
three miles wide, and with its loftiest hill rising 
a scant three hundred feet above the sea. 

But what Bermuda lacks in size and grandeur 
is made up for in attractions, and to visit this 
sea-girt, mid-ocean isle is to love it, for it possesses 
a charm and fascination all its own. 

In form the Bermudas are commonly likened 
to a fish-hook, but one facetious visitor noted 
their resemblance to an outstretched hand, with 
expectant open palm and crooked fingers, wait- 
ing for American dollars; a happy similitude so 
symbolic of Bermuda's greatest revenue that it 
cannot pass unnoted. 

A dozen years ago Bermuda was scarcely known 
to Americans at large, and only the fortunate few 
who had learned the secrets of its charms visited 
its shores. But once the islands were discovered 
by the American public its rise to popularity and 
fame was swift, and to-day it is thronged with 
thousands of visitors ; palatial hotels and innumer- 
able boarding-houses are crowded throughout the 
winter seasons and into Bermudian pockets flows 
a steady stream of American gold. 



BERMUDA 13 

And speaking of "discovering" Bermuda it 
may be of interest to note that the islands were 
repeatedly discovered, and usually by accident, 
which is scarcely to be wondered at when we con- 
sider what a mere speck they form in the waste 
of waters of the North Atlantic; the wonder is 
that they were ever discovered at all. There is 
some doubt as to the actual and original discoverer 
of these islands, but it is usually conceded that 
one Juan Bermudez was the first European to 
land upon them, in 15 15, and it was in his honor 
that they received their best-known name. But 
to Bermudez and his Spaniards the islands were 
of little moment, and, a gale arising, the Dons 
sailed away, glad to escape in safety from the 
reef-filled, treacherous spot. Twenty-eight years 
later a Portuguese, Ferdinand Camelo, touched 
at the Bermudas or "Isles of Devils" as they were 
then called, and after carving his initials upon the 
famous "Spanish Rock" and leaving a few hogs 
upon the islands, he followed the example of his 
predecessors and sailed off to more promising 
lands. For half a century the isles were left to 
themselves, until in 1593, a pirate vessel, home- 
ward bound from the Indies, was wrecked upon 
isolated North Rock. A number of the crew 
reached the shore in safety, among them an 
English mariner, Henry May, and to him we owe 
the little we know of the islands at that time. 



14 THE WEST INDIES 

May and his comrades lived in Bermuda for 
five months, subsisting upon the descendants of 
Camelo's hogs and wild berries, until, having 
constructed a shallop of Bermudian cedar, they 
set sail for Newfoundland where they arrived in 
due time. 

But even May's accounts of Bermuda aroused 
no interest in England and it was left to Sir George 
Somers to really bring the islands to the attention 
of the world. Like the others, Sir George dis- 
covered Bermuda by accident, for while en route 
to Jamestown, Virginia, his ship was disabled in a 
storm, and, being on the point of foundering, was 
run ashore on Bermuda in the hope of saving the 
lives of those on board. In this they were success- 
ful and from July, 1609, until the following May, 
Somers and his companions lived on the islands 
and constructed two vessels in which they sailed 
to Virginia. 

Unlike those other "discoverers" who had 
landed at Bermuda, Somers realized their value 
and his reports led to the establishment of the 
first colony on the islands. He can truthfully 
be called the Father of Bermuda and the name of 
"Somers Islands" seems far more appropriate 
than the more familiar name. He died in Ber- 
muda, while conducting an expedition for the 
relief of Jamestown, and his heart lies buried in 
the ancient cemetery at St. George, 



BERMUDA 15 

Bermuda, like many another isle, has had a 
turbulent, a varied, and an interesting history and 
while space forbids a complete resume of her past 
there are certain events of interest to Americans 
which should be noted. Such was the famous 
gunpowder plot, whereby no less a personage 
than George Washington secured one hundred 
barrels of powder from the sympathetic Bermu- 
dians. It was a most daring and barefaced deed, 
for the powder destined to drive the British from 
Boston, was stolen from the British magazines 
on the island and, to add insult to injury, the 
barrels actually were rolled through the Governor's 
grounds! 

Again, during our Civil War, the Bermudians 
entered prominently into the limelight of our 
land, for here foregathered the reckless blockade 
runners and the sleepy, mid-ocean isles awoke to 
the golden opportunity afforded by the struggle 
between North and South. The long-deserted 
harbors of Hamilton and St. George became 
once more alive with ships, a forest of masts rose 
above the docks and warehouses, and wealth, 
such as had not been known since the old days of 
pirates and buccaneers, filled Bermudian coffers. 
But such prosperity was but fleeting, and not 
until the Bermudians started raising early vege- 
tables and Easter lilies for the Northern markets 
did the islands really come into their own. These, 



i6 THE WEST INDIES 

with the tourists, are Bermuda's mainstay and 
reliance and, of the two, the tourists are doubtless 
the most profitable. Of all the attractions of 
which Bermuda can boast, perhaps the greatest 
is the climate, for it is wonderfully equable, sel- 
dom falling below 6o° or rising above 8o°, even 
in midsummer. But it is not favorable to those 
affected with asthma, tuberculosis, or pulmonary 
or throat troubles, or to those suffering from rheu- 
matism, for it is wonderfully damp and at times 
chilly and as no provision is made for artificially 
heating the majority of dwellings one may suffer 
abominably from cold during a period of rainy 
stormy weather, — and there is a superabundance 
of such. Moreover, the houses are built of porous 
limestone, which absorbs moisture like a sponge, 
and when the rain is over and the sun comes 
forth the dampness is driven inward and the rooms 
become tomb-like in their clammy chill, and 
everything mildews and molds. A small oil 
or alcohol heater will readily overcome this, how- 
ever, and there is no reason for any one being un- 
comfortable, if prepared for the climate in advance. 
Moreover, life in Bermuda is primarily and 
preferably an out-of-doors existence, and a little 
discomfort at times is as nothing compared to the 
pleasures and enjoyments one finds at every turn. 
There are miles of magnificent beaches of creamy 
coral sand, some bordering sheltered coves and 



BERMUDA 17 

bays, others ceaselessly pounded by great foam- 
crested ocean rollers. There are countless islet 
gems studding land-locked lagoons and inviting 
one to row, fish, or sail. There are marvelous 
caverns filled with pendant stalactites and with 
many a subterranean pool whereon one may 
navigate far under ground. There are a hundred 
miles and more of perfect roads leading to every 
part of the islands. There are golf links, tennis 
courts, and race courses. Even those fond of 
society are provided for and there is no end of 
balls, dances, receptions, teas, and other social 
entertainments. 

There are but two real towns in Bermuda; the 
one, Hamilton, near the center of the islands; the 
other, St. George, at the extreme northeastern 
end, but throughout the Bermudas are little 
villages and residences; hotels and native huts 
are scattered here, there, and everywhere, so that 
there seems one continuous settlement. Hamilton, 
the capital, is a large, busy, modern town wherein 
are the principal stores, the largest hotels, and the 
Government offices, and most of the steamers 
make Hamilton their port of call. St. George 
is as different as though in another land. It is 
hilly, old-fashioned, quaint, with narrow, walled 
lanes and alleys, ancient buildings, and a sleepy, 
old-world atmosphere which is most fascinating. 
With all its charms it is unfortunately in the most 



18 THE WEST INDIES 

barren district of the island. While all parts of 
Bermuda are within easy reach of either town 
it is far wiser to select a residence in the outlying 
districts rather than to live in Hamilton or St. 
George. 

Wherever one goes in Bermuda there is vivid 
color and intense light, too intense and vivid if 
anything, for the roads are white, the stone build- 
ings are whitewashed, the rocks, the reefs, the 
sand, — everything save the crystalline waters, 
the verdure, and the colored folk are white, and 
from every side the sunlight is reflected in a 
dazzling, blinding glare that makes blue or amber 
goggles a necessity. 

But the very whiteness and glare serve to 
accentuate the cool and restful greenery of the 
vegetation and the marvelous colors of the sea. 
Perhaps nowhere else in all the world is there such 
gloriously tinted water. Indigo where deep, azure 
and sapphire nearer shore, opalescent turquoise 
in the shallows, and marbled with royal purple 
and amethyst where reefs and corals dot the white 
sand of its bed, the sea that laps Bermuda's 
shores is an ever-changing, ever-fascinating mar- 
vel; a thing of wondrous beauty impossible to 
describe in words or to reproduce in pigments. 

No less wonderful, no less colorful, than the 
water itself, is the bottom of the sea which lies 
revealed to wondering eyes through many feet 



BERMUDA "19 

of the crystalline liquid. Floating upon the sur- 
face of the sheltered bays and lagoons one seems 
suspended in midair, so glass-like in its trans- 
parency is this mid-ocean water, and, gazing into 
the depths one looks upon a new strange world. 
Here are broad patches of smooth-swept sand, 
tinted to delicate malachite-green by the inter- 
vening water, and, sharply outlined upon it, great 
uncouth sea-puddings move slowly about, like 
some strange submarine pachyderms browsing 
on pale-green pastures, while opalescent hued 
fishes dart and flit about like dainty, swift -winged 
birds. Here and there, great masses of submerged 
rocks rise upward from the sandy floor, but such 
rocks! Surely nowhere outside of fairyland were 
ever such forms and colors seen. Everywhere 
marine life teems and each rock and reef is covered 
with myriads of living corals, — emerald, orange, 
ochre, brown, and lavender; broad purple sea- 
fans wave gently to the current; slender sea-rods 
and inky-black gorgonias rise like gaunt trees 
from the mysterious, shadowy crevices; gigantic 
sea-anemones spread their olive and magenta 
tentacles like gorgeous flowers; sponges, brilliant 
scarlet and vermilion in hue, form masses of vivid 
color, while back and forth among them move 
rainbow-tinted fishes, great peacock-colored lob- 
sters, and grotesque crabs, or, sprawling across 
the patchwork of colors, one sees an octopus, its 



20 THE WEST INDIES 

pulpy body and eight squirming arms gay with 
ever changing, chameleon -like hues. 

Even such wonders pall, however, and when tired 
of these sights, or when the winds ruffle the sur- 
face of bay and lagoon and hide the world beneath, 
there are the highways and byways of the land 
where one may drive, cycle, or walk for days and 
ever find new sights and new scenes of beauty and 
interest. 

From Hamilton eastward to St. George there 
are three highways known as the North, Middle, 
and South Roads. All are good, all offer innu- 
merable attractions, and each is distinct and 
different from the others, and as all converge and 
join at the Flatts one may go forth by one route 
and return by another. 

The North Road leads past Victoria Park and 
through shady Cedar Avenue and, as its name 
implies, follows the northern contour of Hamilton 
Island. Soon after leaving the city Woodlands 
is reached, with its waving cocoa palms giving a 
tropical touch to the scene. Just beyond are 
quaint old Pembroke Church and beautiful Mount 
Langdon, where is Government House. Then 
the roadway approaches the shore, and, turning 
to the right, passes an overhanging rock known 
as the "Ducking Stool" where, in early days, 
scolds and gossips were dipped in the sea to still 
their wagging tongues. 




CATHEDRAL ROCKS, BERMUDA 



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NATURAL ARCH, BERMUDA 



BERMUDA 2i 

Thence, following the coast, the highway sweeps 
on, bordered on the water side by pink-flowered, 
heath-like tamarisks, on the other by cedars, 
shrubbery, and green hills, and ever with the 
lovely, brilliant-colored waters gleaming in the 
sun and washing beach-lined coves and rock- 
walled inlets. Now, passing through deep cuts 
in the solid rock, now topping low hills, anon 
swinging close to the water's edge, the way con- 
tinues; every turn, each view affording new and 
more charming views. But if you would enjoy 
this North Road by all means select a pleasant 
day, for when the wind is strong from the west 
the spray flies across the road and one is likely 
to be both cold and wet. 

At Flatts Village Harrington Sound lies spread 
among its bold verdured shores and dotted with 
its picturesque wooded islets. Across the narrow 
inlet is a bridge and here the road may be followed 
to Bailey's Bay by the north shore to St. George, 
or, by turning to the right, the Sound may be 
circled, and the main road again reached. Either 
way is delightful, but of the two perhaps the latter 
is the more interesting. Near at hand, close to 
the water's edge, is a strangely formed mass of 
stone known as "Lion Rock" and a short distance 
farther on is the famous "Devil's Hole." No 
visit to Bermuda would be complete without 
seeing this large, water- filled grotto, containing 



22 THE WEST INDIES 

thousands of multi-colored fish which crowd to 
the edge of the pool to receive their customary 
donation of food from the stranger. 

Beyond the Devil's Hole the highway climbs 
over cedar-clad hills to Shark's Hole and Paynter's 
Vale. Once a splendid estate, with a spacious 
mansion house, Paynter's Vale has now fallen 
into neglect, but it still remains one of the islands' 
beauty spots where many rare and unusual forms 
of vegetation thrive in luxuriant profusion and 
form a miniature forest. All along this road is 
a wealth of vegetation. Dense thickets, gaudy 
with convolvulus and lantana ; heavy woods where 
lofty cedars bend under their curtain-like drapery 
of odorous wild jasmine, and patches of banner- 
leaved bananas alternate with cultivated fields 
redolent of onions or snowy with Easter lilies. 
Altogether it is one of the most beautiful and 
attractive spots in Bermuda, for Harrington Sound 
and Castle Harbor are scarcely a stone's throw 
apart; separated only by this narrow wooded 
ridge, the views are magnificent and there are 
many great caves and historic landmarks in the 
immediate vicinity. 

Close at hand lies Walsingham, famous as the 
one-time residence of Thomas Moore. Despite 
tradition the Bard of Erin never dwelt in the 
ancient house half-hidden amidst the trees and 
shrubbery of the ample grounds, but it loses none 



BERMUDA 23 

of its interest thereby, for he often visited Walsing- 
ham, many of his verses were written there, and 
the calabash tree, immortalized in his poems, 
still stands in his secluded shady glade. 

Beyond Walsingham the main road is reached 
and one comes to the immense causeway which 
bridges the inlet to Castle Harbor and connects 
Hamilton Island with St. George. 

The causeway, — completed in 1871 at a cost 
of nearly $150,000, — was demolished in a single 
night, when the islands were swept by a hurricane 
on September 12, 1899. As originally constructed, 
it was of stone and masonry, but it was rebuilt 
largely of timber. It is nearly a mile and a half 
from end to end, but this includes Long Bird 
Island which forms a considerable portion of the 
entire length. 

From the causeway there is a most charming 
view of Castle Harbor, on the south, its. marvel- 
ously blue waters stretching seaward to the out- 
lying islands with the Atlantic surges churned 
to foam about their frowning, wave-worn cliffs. 
They are wild, deserted spots to-day, their sum- 
mits crowned with ancient, crumbling forts and 
battlements. Once peopled with red-coated sol- 
diery and bristling with cannon commanding the 
entrance to the harbor, they are now forsaken, 
the empty casements overgrown with brush and 
creepers, the gun platforms and magazines the 



24 THE WEST INDIES 

haunt of basking lizards and scuttling land-crabs, 
while in the rock-hewn dungeons and embrasures 
long-tailed tropic birds raise their young in peace. 

To the north is an equally lovely vista, — a tran- 
quil, caerulean lagoon, its narrow seaward opening 
all but barred by little islets and stretching east- 
ward to the drawbridge which spans the entrance 
to St. George's inner harbor. 

Crossing this bridge St. George Island is reached, 
and while this island is barren and yuccas, cacti, 
and giant agaves grow thickly along the roadside, 
yet the view of the land-locked harbor, St. David 
and the lesser islands, and the shipping mirrored 
on the glassy water, fully compensates for the 
lack of beauties on the land. 

In the quaint old-world town one can find much 
of interest. The St. George Hotel, facing the 
open plaza-like square and built two hundred years 
ago, is one of the oldest buildings in Bermuda, 
and its massive cedar beams, — over fifteen inches 
square, — testify to the size of the trees which once 
covered this portion of the islands with a veritable 
forest. But everything in St. George is old, 
or appears so, for this was the first settlement, 
— founded in 1612 — and for two centuries it was 
the capital, and it has changed but little in the 
past three hundred years. 

Wonderfully narrow crooked lanes climb up 
and down hill between the high stone walls and 



BERMUDA 25 

buildings, — many scarce wide enough to permit 
a carriage to pass through, — for St. George's 
streets were made ere wheeled vehicles were known 
in Bermuda, and under the old laws a twelve- 
foot thoroughfare was considered amply broad. 

The town boasts a charming public garden 
and here, beneath an inscribed tablet, the heart 
of St. George Somers still rests, and, in the shady 
old churchyard and the crypt, lies many a famed 
personage of days gone by. 

A walk or drive up the winding, hilly road to 
old Fort St. George, is well rewarded by the 
extensive view obtained, for, from the heights, 
the sea, the harbor, the outlying islands, and the 
main islands are clearly visible for miles — spread 
like a multicolored map beneath one's feet. It 
was this beautiful vista which so charmed Thomas 
Moore and, viewing it to-day, one cannot wonder 
that he perpetuated it in his poems. 

On the return to Hamilton 'tis well to turn 
aside near Devil's Hole and take the road to 
Tucker's Town, a tiny village near the southern 
shore of Castle Harbor and of interest because 
of the Natural Arch which spans a stretch of ocean 
beach near by. Here, on the southern coast, 
one also may see the "boilers," miniature atolls 
projecting above the surface of the sea and on 
which the long rollers constantly break in mighty 
cataracts of boiling foam, hence the native name. 



26 THE WEST INDIES 

And, speaking of these atolls, it may be well to 
state that Bermuda is not a true "coral island" as 
many people suppose. 

From beating surf to wind-swept hilltops the 
Bermudas are composed of drifted shore sand 
which consists entirely of broken sea-shells and 
a few fragments of coral. Although in many 
places the sand has been solidified to the hardness 
and fineness of marble, yet the transition may 
readily be traced, step by step, from the loose 
sand of the dunes to the hardest building stone, 
for in many places the layers of sand and rock 
grade one into the other and it is difficult to say 
where one begins and the other ends. It is a 
simple process of nature, for the sand, packed 
tightly by the wind, becomes saturated with rain, 
the carbon dioxide in the water dissolves a portion 
of the lime, and this, in turn, hardens and cements 
the separate grains of sand into a compact mass. 
It is the same lime in solution which causes the 
beautiful stalactites and dripstone formations in 
the caves and in many of these the process may 
actually be watched as, drop by drop, the water 
oozes from the rock and leaves a tiny deposit of 
lime to mark its passage. Often, in the hardest 
stone, may be found strata or accumulations of 
loose sand which, for some unknown cause, has 
remained unaffected by the percolating water, 
and when these are exposed to the elements and 




SHARK'S HOLE, BERMUDA 



BERMUDA 2>i 

the loose sand washed or blown away, caves or 
caverns remain. Then, when through countless 
ages, the softer rock is worn away and only the 
harder dripstone remains, such picturesque for- 
mations as the Natural Arch and Cathedral Rocks 
result; or, if the roofs fall in, grottos such as the 
Devil's Hole are produced. Indeed Harrington 
Sound itself is supposed to be but a stupendous, 
water-filled cave whose roof, in prehistoric times, 
collapsed. 

Another peculiarity of the Bermuda rock is 
that when first cut or quarried it is very soft but 
upon exposure to the air it hardens rapidly until 
like granite. Often one may see colored men 
cutting the chalky white stone into neat square 
blocks by means of hand-saws and chisels, and, as 
the houses are built of stone obtained on the spot, 
the builders kill two birds with one stone, the 
cavity left by quarrying serving for a cellar to 
the building erected with the stone taken from it ; 
a most economical method of construction. 

In the center of the islands, sheltered from the 
wind and spray by the surrounding hills and 
cedars, the vegetation is far more luxuriant and 
attractive than near the coast, and to drive over 
the Middle Road will at once dispel one's first 
impressions of the island's barrenness. Here, for 
miles, the highways are bordered by close-set 
hedges of oleanders, glorious with pink, white, and 



28 THE WEST INDIES 

red flowers in season. In the grounds and gardens 
of country homes grow nodding palms, great rub- 
ber and fig trees, gorgeous purple-flowered pride 
of India, fragrant frangipani and golden-yellow 
locust, while oranges, lemons, papaws, and bananas 
rise above the blooming shrubbery, and great 
feathery bamboos arch above the smooth white 
roadway. Everywhere in swales and "sinks" 
are fields of rich red earth, enclosed in neat stone 
walls and filled with potatoes, onions, garden 
truck, or snowy white Easter lilies. But the 
onions are more in evidence than the lilies in 
Bermuda nowadays and, as one visitor remarked, 
"You see the lilies and smell onions." 

Even more beautiful are the drives westward 
from Hamilton. Not far from the town are the 
famous "Five Sisters," a row of graceful royal 
palms, their symmetrical gray-white trunks ris- 
ing like granite columns beside the road and 
their plumed tops swaying in the breeze against 
the deep blue sky. They are regal trees, but mere 
pigmies compared to their fellows in the Antilles, 
and are notable as being the most northern out- 
of-door specimens of their kind. Just beyond here, 
in Paget and Warwick parishes, are some of the 
most beautiful drives and most entrancing scenery 
of Bermuda, the road, bordered and shaded by 
giant' bamboos and high-wooded hills, affording 
magnificent views; that from Gibb's Hill Light 



BERMUDA 29 

being the best and most extensive on the islands. 
Here, as to the east of the capital, are three main 
roads, but the best is the north road along the 
coast which presents a constant, ever-changing 
panorama of islets, sea, and shore, with Hamilton 
gleaming like a snow-drift against the dark back- 
ground of its encircling hills. 

Following this road one may continue on to 
Somerset or even to Ireland Island with its immense 
dockyard and naval station and gigantic floating 
dry dock. But if you visit this western portion 
of Bermuda do not fail to see the famed Cathedral 
Rocks or "Old Church Rocks" on the shore of the 
"Scaur" between Somerset and Hamilton Islands. 
The remains of an ancient, partly destroyed 
cavern, Cathedral Rocks appear almost as if 
carved by the hand of man, and while disappoint- 
ing in their size — they are scarcely a score of 
feet in height — yet they are so remarkable and 
unique that they are well worth a visit. 

But the same may be said of many another 
spot in these mid-ocean isles. There are the 
numerous caverns; Spanish Point with its perfect 
beach strewn with bright-hued sea-shells; Fairy- 
lands, a spot of unrivaled, dainty beauty most ap- 
propriately named ; Prospect Hill with its parade- 
ground, bright with red-coated "Tommies" and 
society on Sundays; Elbow Bay where cedars 
and deserted houses are being overwhelmed by 



30 



THE WEST INDIES 



the irresistible drifting sand ; Hungry Bay, with its 
weird mangrove swamp, its snowy white herons, 
and its puzzling "fossil palm trunks"; isolated 
North Rock on which the Bonaventura went to 
pieces so many years ago; Castle Island with its 
ancient forts; St. David's, Smith, and Cooper's 
Islands once famous for their whale fishery and 
where a vast treasure is reputed to be buried; 
Spanish Rock with its strange, carved inscrip- 
tion attributed to Ferdinand Camelo; Tucker's 
Island where the prisoners of the Boer War were 
confined; the Biological Laboratory on Agar's 
Island; the ancient, age-gray churches and moss- 
grown tombstones with their amusing epitaphs; 
Coney Island with its land-locked lagoon and 
bathing beach. All these and many more are 
within easy reach and all may be visited in ease 
and comfort by boat or carriage or on foot, — surely 
enough, with deep-sea fishing, boating, yachting, 
out-door sports, and social events, to justify 
Bermuda's ever-increasing popularity. 





CHAPTER II 

THE VIRGIN ISLES 

The "Saints and Virgins," Columbus called 
them, as, sweeping westward before the trade 
wind, he gazed upon their forest-clad heights 
from the deck of his caravel, in 1493. 

And through the centuries the names he gave 
them have remained unaltered, albeit they have 
been tossed like shuttlecocks from nation to na- 
tion, and have been fought over by Spanish, 
French, Dutch, and British, to fall, for so many 
years, to the lot of Denmark, whose white-crossed, 
scarlet banner waved above St. Thomas, St. John, 
and Santa Cruz from 1666 until 191 7. 

Wonderfully beautiful appears St. Thomas, 
when first seen rising above the sapphire rim of 
sea and with the hazy, cloud-like mountain peaks 
of Porto Rico looming against the western sky. 

From palm-fringed coves the green hills sweep 
upward to cloud-draped mountain tops, and sandy 
beaches alternate with wave-worn cliffs until, 
rounding a jutting headland, the perfect harbor 
of Charlotte Amalie is reached. 

31 



32 THE WEST INDIES 

At the head of the bay the picturesque town 
spreads upward from the water's edge upon 
three steep hills; to the left is the great floating 
dock and the huge coaling station of the Hamburg- 
American Line ; to the right are the larger govern- 
ment coal docks and on every hand, save seaward, 
rise the verdured mountains. 

Long ere the anchor chains roar through the 
hawse holes the ship is surrounded by brightly 
painted boats, their negro crews clamoring for 
patronage, while naked, brown diving boys beg 
for coins to be tossed overboard that they may 
exhibit their wondrous diving and swimming 
powers for the benefit of passengers. And it is 
small wonder that the good-natured, ragged crowd 
throngs about each ship which enters the lovely 
harbor, and that each man and boy vies with his 
fellows for the favor of visitors, for the natives 
have hard work to keep soul and body together 
in this isle. Never an agricultural island, — for it 
was long ago deforested, and is too hilly for the 
use of modern farming methods and machinery, 
St. Thomas prospered and fattened on her com- 
merce. It was a free port ; a safe and commodious 
harbor invited countless ships to enter and trade 
or refit, and the coaling stations and dry dock 
brought a princely income to Charlotte Amalie 
and afforded an abundance of employment to the 
people. But with the opening of the Panama 




LANDING PLACE, ST. THOMAS 




SUGAR ESTATE, ST. CROIX 



THE VIRGIN ISLES 33 

Canal, the taking of Porto Rico by the United 
States, and the cessation of German shipping and 
the closing of the coaling station, due to the Euro- 
pean War, ill times came to St. Thomas. To-day 
there is little commerce there, business is almost 
at a standstill, and, save for the bay rum industry, 
an occasional vessel forced to refit or make repairs 
through stress of storm, and the microscopical 
local trade with the neighboring islands, there 
is little opportunity for the islanders to earn a 
livelihood. v 

There is not much to be seen in St. Thomas, 
although the spot has a beauty, a fascination, and 
an atmosphere which invariably appeal to visitors. 
There is but one really level street, which leads 
east and west near the waterfront and from this, 
narrow side streets lead sharply up the hillsides, 
in many places carried in flights of steps up the 
steeper slopes. 

Bordering this Main Street are the stores and 
shops, where one may purchase bay rum, Panama 
hats, and similar goods at very low prices ; near the 
western end is the market-place, and at the eastern 
extremity, close to the landing-place, is a tiny, 
palm-bordered park and a quaint old fort. This 
pink, picturesque fortress seems far more toy- 
like than real even now that the Stars and Stripes 
are flying over it. The names of the streets are 
the only remaining traces of the former Danish 



34 THE WEST INDIES 

ownership. Everyone speaks English, many of 
the boatmen and storekeepers speak a dozen or 
more languages, and coins of currency of any 
nation pass readily, for St. Thomas has dealt with 
every race and nationality, her harbor has shel- 
tered ships flying the flags of every maritime 
power, and her people have become cosmopolitan 
in speech and money matters. 

Among the first "sights" pointed out to the 
visitor to St. Thomas is "Blackbeard's Castle," 
a stone tower at the summit of the central hill 
on which the town is built, while on the hill to 
the right is a similar structure known as "Blue- 
beard's Tower." It is very doubtful if the no- 
torious pirate, Teach, ever held sway in the 
stronghold bearing his more popular name, and cer- 
tainly the casrulean-whiskered wife-killer of child- 
hood's days never dwelt here, but the two buildings 
crowning the town are well worth a visit for the 
views obtainable, and Bluebeard's Tower has been 
transformed into a delightful residence by the 
American scientist who has purchased it. But 
if you would see St. Thomas at its best, climb to 
the lofty summit of "Ma Falie," and select early 
morning or late afternoon for the undertaking, 
else you will call it "My Folly," as the way is 
steep and the path none too good. Once the 
hilltop is reached all will be forgotten, however, 
for the panorama spread below is marvelously 



THE VIRGIN ISLES 35 

beautiful. At one's feet lies the red-roofed town 
with its gardens, palms, and steep lanes, looking 
as if about to slip into the blue waters of the 
tranquil harbor. To the west, and separated 
from the harbor by a narrow, hilly peninsula, 
is a great harp-shaped lagoon of gleaming sapphire, 
— once the haunt of pirate and of buccaneer, but 
now deserted save by picnickers and bathers — 
while, stretching away to the shimmering horizon, 
sparkles the Caribbean with the wraith-like forms 
of the other "Saints" upon its azure bosom. To 
the west, Porto Rico breaks the purpling rim of 
sea; far to the southward hangs a faint, gray 
cloud that marks St. Croix, and eastward — seem- 
ingly close at hand — lies St. John with the faint 
outlines of the other "Virgins" beyond. 

ST. JOHN 

St. John, also formerly Danish, is of little interest 
to tourists, and is seldom visited, but it is a wildly 
beautiful isle, — a rugged, forest-clothed spot with 
scarce two thousand inhabitants nearly all of 
whom are blacks. But it is deserving of being 
better known, for there are few more charming 
islands in all the Caribbean and it can boast of a 
deep, safe harbor — Coral Bay — which has scarcely 
an equal, although few are the seamen who have 
ever seen it. 

In former times the island was a famous haunt 



36 THE WEST INDIES 

of pirates, and in its forests, fragrant with pimento, 
spice, and coffee trees, one may often stumble upon 
the crumbling forts and rusting cannon of the old 
sea rovers who once made merry in this secluded 
rendezvous. 

To-day St. John is famous only as the source 
of more than half the bay rum of the world, a 
statement that may surprise many, for bay rum 
and St. Thomas arc almost synonymous and the 
name of St. John is never heard. But the most 
extensive bay-tree groves in the Antilles are here, 
and the bulk of the St. Thomas product is made 
from leaves grown in this forgotten, out-of-the- 
way isle. 

ST. CROIX 

Very different from St. Thomas or St. John is 
the third of the Virgin Isles — St. Croix or Santa 
Cruz, the island of the Holy Cross — and which 
is nearly fifty miles south of Charlotte Amalie. 

When sailing along its coast, Santa Cruz re- 
minds one of nothing so much as an island cut 
from green plush, for, from palm-fringed coral 
beaches to loftiest hilltops, it is one glorious mass 
of green ; but green of a thousand shades, from the 
pale and tender tint of waving "cane to the deepest 
terre-verte of bay trees and the emerald hue of 
logwood. A land of rolling hills, rich valleys, and 



THE VIRGIN ISLES 37 

serene, park-like beauty is St. Croix, and but a 
single glance is needed to tell the visitor that here 
sugar is king, for, over hills and across valleys, 
stretch the vast cane fields. Brown where freshly 
planted, delicate green where bearing, and sere 
and yellow where the harvest has been garnered, 
the fields appear like a gigantic patchwork quilt 
covering the land. 

Here and there the monument-like towers of 
old windmills rise against the greenery, houses 
and buildings peep from groves of palms and shade 
trees, and gleaming roads wind, like white ribbons, 
over the hills. 

Before the town of Frederiksted the ship drops 
anchor in a bay of vivid turquoise rimmed by a 
crescent of snowy sand. Intensely tropical and 
very foreign-looking is the town, with its low 
buildings with massive arched doorways, its 
innumerable palms, and its vivid coloring of sea, 
sky, and verdure. 

But with all its beauty Frederiksted is of little 
interest. The dazzling glare from its white coral 
roads and buildings is blinding, it is undeniably 
hot and the visitor to Santa Cruz will do well to 
make for the outlying country as soon as he arrives. 
There are numerous public carriages and many 
automobiles for hire; the roads are magnificent, 
and, away from the town, all is restful, cool, and 
beautiful. 



38 THE WEST INDIES 

There are trie great sugar estates to be visited; 
the capital, Christiansted, on the opposite end of 
the island, is worth seeing; there are innumerable 
bathing beaches everywhere along the coast; 
gorgeous flowers, strange tropical trees, blooming 
vines and creepers, vast pineapple fields, fruit- 
laden orange groves, acres of bananas, and mile- 
long avenues of stately royal palms greet the 
visitor at every turn, while far and near, stretch 
the endless fields of cane. 

Wonderfully happy and good-natured seem the 
barefooted colored folk one meets, albeit they 
are but a shade better off than their St. Thomas 
neighbors; wonderfully pleasant and hospitable 
are the whites, and, as in St. Thomas, there is 
scarce a trace of Danish ownership. The most 
prominent planters are Americans, the island's 
trade is almost entirely with the United States, 
the inhabitants are far more familiar with New 
York or Boston than with Copenhagen, and they 
are far more interested in American than Danish 
news and doings. 

Several times have these Virgin Isles sought to 
come under the Stars and Stripes and for innumer- 
able reasons. To Denmark they were a liability, 
to Uncle Sam they will prove an asset. At 4 p.m. 
on the 31st of March, 19 17, Old Glory fluttered 
upward on the staffs which for near three centuries 
had flaunted the banner of Denmark, and these 



THE VIRGIN ISLES 



39 



beautiful islands came into their own. The sign- 
ing of the Treaty of the Cession of the Islands was 
proclaimed in Washington on January 25th. Com- 
mander E. T. Pollock, U. S. N., received the sov- 
ereignty of the islands as the representative of 
our country and was named Governor pro tern, till 
the arrival of Rear Admiral J. H. Oliver, U. S. N. 
Their one-time fame as health resorts will return, 
the harbor of St. Thomas will once more teem 
with shipping, the fertile soil of Santa Cruz will 
add its bounty to our wealth, and employment 
and prosperity will replace idleness and poverty. 




^-ifjiitol"-. 




CHAPTER III 



ISLANDS QUITE OUT OF THE WORLD 



Eastward from the Virgin Isles, — like skir- 
mishers thrown out to guard the Caribbean from 
the fury of the Atlantic, — a number of small 
islands stand. Some are British and some are 
Dutch, while one is jointly owned by France and 
Holland. 

Mere specks on the map and seldom visited by 
steamers, they are so little known that even their 
names are unfamiliar to most people, although 
many of them are mountainous, forest-covered, 
fertile, and gem-like in their beauty. Anegada, 
Virgin Gorda, Tortola, Sombrero, Anguilla, with 
many a lesser islet and cay, fly the flag of England ; 
Saba, St. Eustatius, and St. Bartholomew are 
under the banner of the Netherlands, while St. 
Martins flaunts the Dutch colors from one half 
of its area and the tricolor of France over the 
other half. 

Of little importance to-day, quite out of the 
world as far as visitors and commerce are con- 
cerned, abandoned for the most part to the blacks, 

40 



ISLANDS QUITE OUT OF THE WORLD 41 

and with no accommodations for strangers, yet 
time was when these islands were a power in 
the Antilles and their wealth was the envy of 
kings. 

Here, in the bygone days of piracy, flocked the 
wild sea rovers of the broad Spanish Main, and in 
many a safe and sheltered harbor of the "Virgins" 
the "Jolly Roger" was more familiar than the 
banner of any European nation. Upon their 
shores the swift, armed craft were careened, 
repaired, and refitted; in the tiny towns the free- 
booters drank, gambled, and caroused away their 
ill-gotten gold, and the islands, — immune from 
the raids of their bloodthirsty guests for sake 
of the asylum they afforded, — waxed rich and 
prosperous. 

Countless millions in treasure have these now 
forsaken islands seen; vast sums no doubt still 
lie securely hidden in their forests, and, amid 
their uncharted reefs and unfrequented waters, 
many a corsair ship lies rotting and coral encrusted 
to-day, for among these islands many a pirate 
craft was sent to the bottom, when Commodore 
Porter hounded the last of the freebooters up and 
down the Antilles and wiped piracy from the 
Caribbean forever. 

Privateers too found these outlying islands most 
convenient for their needs, and St. Bartholomew, 
or St. Barts as it is more often called, became a 



42 THE WEST INDIES 

famous resort for free-lances of the sea during 
our Revolutionary War. 

Then a colony of Sweden, — under whose do- 
minion it remained until 1878, — it was attacked by 
Admiral Rodney who sacked the port, Gustavia, 
and captured merchandise worth over two million 
dollars. To-day scarce that many cents could 
be found on the island, for the good old golden 
days have passed, never to return, and fishing, 
salt-making, and a half-hearted cultivation of the 
soil are all that serve to keep the islanders alive. 

SABA 

Farther to the south than the true Virgins and 
lying midway between St. Croix and St. Kitts, 
are two islands well worthy of more than passing 
notice. 

Massive volcanic *: cones, they rise abruptly 
from the sea, the most westerly called Saba; the 
other St. Eustatius, or Statia, and both belonging 
to the Dutch. 

I No other spot in all the world is quite like Saba; 
of all the islands it is the strangest, and of them 
all it is in many ways the most interesting. Sheer, 
conical, forbidding, and frowning, this island 
rises from the waves; its base in water thousands 
of feet in depth; its topmost pinnacle veiled in 
drifting clouds three thousand feet above the sea; 



ISLANDS QUITE OUT OF THE WORLD 43 

its coast rock-bound and precipitous. Passing 
it on the south no one would ever dream that 
Saba was inhabited, but when sailing past it on 
the east one may glimpse a few houses, and a 
church or two, nestling in the greenery of the 
heights, for, strange as it may seem, some two 
thousand souls dwell on this lonely volcano's 
summit. 

A thousand feet or more above the beating surf 
is the town, snugly hidden from passers-by in 
an extinct crater, and appropriately called "Bot- 
tom." No harbor breaks Saba's rock-bound 
shores; there is no safe anchorage and no good 
landing-place, and, if one would visit this unique 
town, one must step ashore from a small boat 
upon a shingly beach and either climb a steep 
stairway of eight hundred stone steps, or toil up 
a narrow, difficult trail through a ravine on the 
other side of the island. Bad as it is to make 
the ascent empty handed, yet the Sabans think 
nothing of climbing to their aerie with a barrel 
of flour or similar burden on their heads, for they 
are a sturdy race and every article brought to 
Saba from the outer world must be "headed" up 
the heights. 

Most of the men are sailors, as they have been 
since earliest times, and sail all the seven seas, 
although they invariably return to their beloved 
island home to pass their old age, when possible. 



44 THE WEST INDIES 

And indeed they could scarce find a lovelier spot, 
for Saba possesses a temperate climate like per- 
petual spring and the town is as neat, tidy, clean, 
and trim as Dutch industry and thrift can make 
it. Many of the Sabans are black, but a large 
proportion are white, and as flaxen-haired, blue- 
eyed, and pink-cheeked as any denizens of Holland, 
and there are few people of mixed blood. 

Aside from the incomes earned by their sailor 
men, the Sabans depend for a livelihood upon rais- 
ing garden truck, making delicate and beautiful 
lace and drawn work, and building boats. Prob- 
ably of all the strange things of this strangest of 
strange places this last is most remarkable, for 
here, in a crater one thousand feet above the 
sea are built boats which for seaworthiness, 
staunchness, and_ speed are famous throughout 
the Caribbean. 

ST. EUSTATIUS 

St. Eustatius is Saba's nearest neighbor, twenty 
miles distant and in plain sight ; but there is little 
resemblance between the two islands or the ways 
of the people, for Statia possesses a large area of 
fairly level land, sloping downwards from its lofty 
crater to the beach upon the western coast and 
here, in quite conventional manner, squats old 
Orange Town with a safe anchorage ready for 



ISLANDS QUITE OUT OF THE WORLD 45 

any vessel which sees fit to enter. To-day there 
is little business in Statia, little of interest to be 
seen, for Statia's greatness is of the past; but in 
the heart of every patriotic citizen of the United 
States the name of St. Eustatius should live for- 
ever, for 'twas here the Stars and Stripes were 
first saluted by guns of a foreign power. 

It was in November, 1776, that the guns of 
ancient Fort Orange roared out their salvo to the 
new flag bravely fluttering from the masthead 
of the Andrew Doria, a rakish privateer of Balti- 
more. No doubt the Statians, and sturdy old 
Governor De Graaf , repented most heartily of 
this honor paid to the new-born republic, for it 
brought their British neighbors down upon them 
and Lord Rodney sailed forth from humbled Statia 
with booty to the value of three million pounds 
sterling. 

A vast garden, producing cane, tobacco, indigo, 
coffee, and cotton, and supporting a population 
of nearly twenty-five thousand people, Statia in 
the eighteenth century was one of the most im- 
portant of West Indian ports, and the harbor of 
Fort Orange was filled with countless ships drawn 
here by the immense stores of supplies in this free 
port, and which proved a veritable blessing to the 
Continentals. 

But to-day the water-front is all but deserted, 
the great warehouses are in ruins, the once pros- 



4 6 



THE WEST INDIES 



perous estates are grown up to weeds and brush, 
the population has dwindled to a bare two thousand 
souls, and the guns of old Fort Orange are rust- 
covered and mute. 





CHAPTER IV 

ST. KITTS AND NEVIS 

After five days of naught but sea and sky, 
St. Thomas and St. Croix appear verdant, lovely 
spots; the first magnificent and lofty; the other 
rich, colorful, and tropical, but they both pale 
into insignificance when one first looks upon St. 
Kitts, the most northerly of the Leeward Islands. 

Stretching for miles to north and south, lies 
this sun-bright, smiling isle, its massive mountains 
cloud-draped and forest-covered, its hills, valleys, 
and tablelands golden with vast areas of cane, 
and everywhere the palms. Rimming the beaches 
above the slender thread of foam, they grow 
in countless thousands; they border the perfect 
winding roads in colonnades for scores of miles; 
they cluster above imposing plantation homes or 
tiny negro hovels with equal impartiality, and, 
clear-cut as silhouettes against the wondrous sky, 
they stand like giant sentinels upon the hilltops. 

St. Thomas seemed lofty as the steamer slipped 
along its coast and we gazed upwards to its heights, 
but compared to St. Kitts the Virgin isle is merely 

47 



48 THE WEST INDIES 

hilly. Mountains after mountains lift their ma- 
jestic bulks from the cultivated lands in one stu- 
pendous rampart of green, culminating in Mount 
Misery, a dormant volcano, whose crater rim is 
shrouded in perpetual clouds four thousand feet 
above the sea. 

Continually changing is the panorama presented 
by this lovely British isle. One moment it gleams 
and scintillates with effulgent sunlight; the next 
a passing cloud drifts on the wings of the trade 
wind from the east and instantly the mountain 
slopes of green grow black and somber, the island 
seems to frown, and a veil of driving rain shuts 
mountains from view as by a curtain drawn 
before them. A minute more, and the downpour 
ceases as if by magic, the curtain is swept aside, 
and valleys and ravines are purple with the mois- 
ture rising from their depths. Here and there 
wisps of cloud-wrack still cling lovingly to the 
mountainsides, the sun bursts forth once more, 
and St. Kitts smiles a welcome. 

Now we are close enough to distinguish the 
various units that make up the island as a whole. 
To the north is Sandy Point, sloping gently from 
the sea to Mount Misery's heights, and, close 
under the shadow of the volcano, and near the 
shore, snuggles a steep-sided, detached hill stand- 
ing alone above the level cane fields round 
about. 




BASSETERRE, ST. K1TTS 




THE CIRCUS, ST. KITTS 



ST. KITTS AND NEVIS 49 

Once a strongly fortified spot, Brimstone Hill 
as it is called, is now abandoned and its crumbling 
forts deserted, save by troops of wild monkeys 
which haunt the forests of St. Kitts, — descendants 
of the soldiers' pets brought years ago from Gi- 
braltar. From Brimstone Hill southward the 
mountains diminish in size, while broad culti- 
vated fields and valleys increase, until, just back 
of the town of Basseterre, the backbone of the 
island ends in a low, rounded, mound-like emi- 
nence in a broad cane-covered plain and known as 
Monkey Hill. 

Wonderfully pretty is Basseterre viewed from 
the sea, — the final touch needed to complete a 
perfect scene of tropical beauty. Red roofs and 
multi-tinted buildings gleam amid waving palms, 
brightly painted sloops and schooners ride at 
anchor on the wonderful water, and scores of 
gaudy-hued row boats and launches swarm about 
the newly arrived ship, their chattering negro 
occupants filling the balmy air with a babel of 
soft, throaty English. 

Near the center of the water-front, a long 
iron pier juts seaward and at the head of 
this looms the customs house, a roomy build- 
ing and the most conspicuous structure in the 
town. 

Landing at the pier, and emerging from the 
customs house, one comes at once to the "Circus," 



50 THE WEST INDIES 

a small circular open space or plaza from which 
several streets radiate, and surrounded by tower- 
ing royal palms shading an ornamental fountain. 
About the Circus, and in the vicinity, are the best 
stores, shops, and business houses, and near at 
hand are the most interesting and attractive sights 
of St. Kitts's capital. 

A few steps to the right is a lovely little park, 
with well-kept lawns bordered by gorgeous flowers 
and blooming shrubs, and shaded by magnificent 
fig trees, mahoganies, cedars, tamarinds, and palms. 
About this park are many residences of well-to- 
do Kittefonians in the midst of lovely grounds 
ablaze with flowering vines and trees, for tropical 
vegetation runs riot in St. Kitts and everywhere 
the town teems with wonderful trees, brilliant 
flowers, and great palms. It is a strange sensa- 
tion for a Northerner, who visits these islands for 
the first time, to see rare orchids and strange 
exotics, — of priceless worth and confined to green- 
houses in our own land, — blooming and growing 
uncared for and unnoticed by the wayside. 
Flaming poincianas and heavy-scented frangi- 
panis spread their gorgeous branches overhead, 
night-blooming cereus sprawls over fences and 
roadside walls, roses grow to tree-like proportions 
and bloom continuously, gardenias, crotons, and 
jasmine crowd one another to find roothold in the 
crevices of paved courtyards, orchids deck trees 



ST. KITTS AND NEVIS 51 

and ruins, while amaryllis, portulaca, thunburgia, 
lantana, and many another of our prized flowers, 
are troublesome weeds. 

But if you would obtain a good idea of St. Kitts's 
flora turn to the left at the Circus and visit the 
Public Garden, or, better still, hire one of the 
waiting public carriages or motor cars and go 
where you will in ease and comfort about the town 
and to the outlying countryside as well. The 
roads of St. Kitts are excellent and reach all 
points of interest and importance and the island 
may be entirely encircled in a day. The outlying 
sugar estates may prove interesting, if one has 
not seen such places in St. Croix or elsewhere. 
There is a beautiful waterfall at Wingfield; there 
is a large cavern known as Lawyer Steven's Cave; 
from the summit of Monkey Hill a superb view 
of the surrounding country and the sea may be 
obtained while, if the visitor is fond of scaling 
mountain heights, the ascent of Mount Misery 
may be made. 

It is a wonderful trip, — up from Sandy Point 
through the "high bush," as the primeval forest 
is called, — with the gigantic trees rising for a 
hundred feet and more on every hand, a maze- 
like network of lianas binding trunks and branches 
together, and the whole forming a dense canopy — 
cool, damp, and silent — where the sunlight never 
penetrates. 



52 THE WEST INDIES 

Above the forest proper is the world of mountain 
palms and giant tree ferns, a land of wind-swept 
drifting clouds which bathe the mountain in per- 
petual mist, and then, at last, one comes to the 
crater. From rim to bottom the crater is nearly 
a thousand feet in depth, its sides in many places 
sheer precipices of scarlet and yellow, at other spots 
covered with trees and vegetation, while far below 
are innumerable boiling springs and fumaroles from 
which sulphurous vapors are ever rising. 

There is no record of an eruption in St. Kitts in 
historic times, but the crater is still active, though 
it slumbers, and at any moment it may burst forth 
and wipe the fair island from the face of the earth. 

With all its luxuriant tropic beauty, its fertility, 
and its possibilities yet St. Kitts is of little impor- 
tance commercially and its inhabitants are far 
from prosperous, for the Kittefonians have never 
learned to meet conditions and wean themselves 
from the sugar which made fortunes for their 
ancestors. Although, during the European War, 
the price of sugar has risen by leaps and bounds 
and St. Kitts planters are doing well, there is 
little hope for continued prosperity, once peace is 
declared and sugar falls to its wonted value. 

NEVIS 

In even worse shape is Nevis, whose per- 
fect, symmetrical towering cone sweeps upward 



ST. KITTS AND NEVIS 53 

from the sea five miles southward from St. 
Kitts. 

Once the favorite watering place and health 
resort for the elite of Europe, America, and the 
Indies, Nevis has fallen to poverty and decay. 
Once princely mansions have gone to ruin and 
now shelter sordid negro hovels. Where revelry 
and music once echoed in marble halls and the 
lights shed by a thousand candelabra gleamed on 
laces, silks, and priceless jewels there are now but 
weed-grown piles of crumbling masonry. For- 
merly known throughout the world as The Gor- 
geous Isle, the birthplace of Alexander Hamilton, 
the spot famous as the scene of Lord Nelson's 
marriage, it is now forgotten, neglected, and of 
so little importance that few ships ever drop 
anchor in Charlestown harbor. 

But it is beautiful despite all this. Its climate 
is as perfect as in its most glorious days, its ther- 
mal baths, medicinal waters, and fertile soil still 
remain, and there are many places worth visiting 
on the island. 

Hamilton's birthplace still stands upon a hill 
near the town, although in ruins; in the old Fig 
Tree Church one may still see the marriage 
register recording Nelson's wedding to the Widow 
Nisbet, and submerged Jamestown — destroyed by 
the earthquake of 1680 — may yet be distinguished, 
coral encrusted, beneath the waters near the shore. 



54 THE WEST INDIES 

No one can look on Nevis without a thrill of 
admiration for its beauty; no one can visit its 
historic spots without a pang of sorrow for its 
present state. It is but a corpse of Nevis of the 
past, — pathetic, passed away forever perhaps, 
but beautiful even if dead. 




CHAPTER V 



ANTIGUA AND ITS NEIGHBOR 



After the lofty mountains of St. Kitts and 
Nevis, with their rich green forests, Antigua seems 
low and bare, — an endless succession of dull, gray- 
green hills above the sea and backed by higher 
hills of softer, brighter hue, but with little sign of 
the luxuriant vegetation of the other islands. 

Antigua, however, is really much higher than it 
appears and some of its interior hills rise to nearly 
iooo feet above the sea. But in every way it is 
very different from the volcanic islands of the 
Lesser Antilles, for it is mainly of limestone forma- 
tion and lacks the grandeur, the scenic beauties, the 
tumbling cataracts, and the roaring '^mountain 
streams of its neighbors. 

Moreover, Antigua has long been denuded of its 
forests; for centuries its fertile lands have been 
given over to cane, it has grown dry and sterile in 
many places and there is scarce a square foot of 
its arable land which is not under cultivation, or 
has not been cultivated in the past. 

Outside the harbor of St. John the ships anchor 
55 



56 THE WEST INDIES 

nearly five miles from the town, for bars prevent 
large vessels from entering the inner harbor, and 
little can be seen of the capital from the steamer. 
By means of a launch, passengers are carried to and 
from the shore, but it is a long inconvenient trip 
and many visitors to the islands never step ashore 
at Antigua, and, to tell the truth, they miss but 
little. But there are certain interesting things 
to be seen and, as Antigua is the capital of 
the Leeward Island Confederation, it is worth 
visiting. 

Just at the entrance to the harbor proper the 
boat passes beneath a low headland crowned with 
an ancient picturesque fort and farther up the 
harbor is Rat Island with its Leper Hospital, 
neatly kept and pleasantly situated and where 
those afflicted with the loathsome disease seem 
quite happy and contented. 

Formerly leprosy was all too common in the 
West Indies and lepers mingled freely with their 
fellow men and women, and even took employ- 
ment as servants and peddled fruits and vegetables 
in the markets. To-day, however, they are segre- 
gated for life and in many of the islands there is 
not a single known case of leprosy. 

Fortunately for the West Indies, members of 
the white race were very seldom affected by the 
disease and it seemed to increase or spread but 
little, and the number of cases remained almost 



ANTIGUA AND ITS NEIGHBOR 57 

constant, even when no systematic efforts were 
made to keep it under control. 

But it was unpleasant, to say the least, to find 
that the "boy" who had been engaged to carry 
one's purchases to the ship was a leper. Fortu- 
nately such things are of the past and there is no 
more danger of contracting leprosy, yaws, or any 
other disease in the Antilles than in the North. ; 

St. John is beautifully situated at the head of its 
harbor and surrounded by rolling hills; the streets 
are straight and the town is well laid out and, with 
a little care and expense, it might well be one of 
the most attractive spots in the islands. But, un- 
fortunately, the average British West Indian has 
no conception of the "City Beautiful" and appears 
to take no pride in the appearance of his towns. 

St. John has a few good buildings, such as the 
government offices and court-house, and an ex- 
cellent market ; but the bulk of the town is made 
up of frail wooden shacks, ramshackle, unpainted, 
down-at-the-heel shops, and hovels, which crowd 
between the better buildings and obtrude them- 
selves along every sidewalk. But we should not 
blame the Antiguans or their neighbors too severely 
for this state of affairs. Through shortsighted 
policy the powers that be tax improvements, — 
even to a coat of paint on a house, — and to avoid 
assuming burdens they cannot bear, the people let 
their houses and shops go unpainted, uncared for, 



58 THE WEST INDIES 

and neglected. A fire, which would sweep the 
town from end to end, would be a blessing in dis- 
guise in St. John, as in many other of the British 
islands, as, from the ashes, a new and better town 
would no doubt arise, as occurred in Port of Spain. 
Such a beneficial conflagration is not likely to 
occur, however, for St. John possesses a fire 
department and the firemen are as zealous of 
saving a shanty as a government building. 

At the rear of the town the great yellow Angli- 
can church rises far above all else, its twin towers 
the most prominent landmark to be seen, and from 
them a superb view may be obtained. 

In the churchyard are many ancient tombstones 
of once prominent Antiguans, and at either side of 
the gateway are statues said to have been taken 
from one of Napoleon's ships. 

Perhaps the church itself is as curious and inter- 
esting as anything in St. John. Externally the 
church is of massive stone construction, but with- 
in it is of wood, for it is really one church within 
another, — a unique method of construction de- 
signed to protect the congregation from the effects 
of earthquakes. Although not volcanic, yet 
Antigua is frequently shaken by earth tremors and 
once, during an unusually severe quake, the old 
church tumbled about the ears of a wedding party. 
Observing that the stones fell inward the Anti- 
guans ingeniously built a wooden church and sur- 



ANTIGUA AND ITS NEIGHBOR 59 

rounded it with a shell of masonry. Now, should 
a similar catastrophe occur, the wooden structure 
will protect any worshipers within from falling 
stones, and if the outer church is destroyed a 
complete wooden edifice will still remain standing. 

Back of the church, and beyond the town, is 
the Government House surrounded by beautiful 
grounds and lovely gardens, and near at hand are 
tennis courts, cricket fields, and a broad, smooth- 
swarded savanna surrounded by avenues shaded 
by double rows of mahogany trees. 

Near here is the Botanic Station, — small but 
charming, — and filled with a wealth of palms, 
flowers, trees, shrubs, and rare tropical plants, 
orchids and cacti, and so crowded with vegetation, 
so cool and shady, and so lacking in artificiality, 
that it is even more attractive than many of the 
more pretentious gardens in the other islands. 

When visiting this garden the stranger is invari- 
ably surprised to see a lighthouse standing upon a 
low hill above a tiny pond, as if placed in this out- 
of-the-way spot for the sole benefit of voyagers on 
the miniature lake. As a matter of fact, the light 
is visible from the sea and serves as a guiding 
beacon to vessels approaching the harbor. 

Aside from the places mentioned there is little 
else of real interest in St. John and still less of 
attractiveness, but the island is traversed by 
splendid roads and a ride, by carriage or motor 



60 THE WEST INDIES 

car, may be taken to advantage. The scenery is 
nothing to boast about, but there are many large 
and fine estates, charming beach-rimmed bays and 
coves, and last and by no means least, the Valley of 
Petrifications, where one may gather specimens of 
fossil trees and wood from the petrified forest. 
Then there is English Harbor, formerly an impor- 
tant port and naval station, where once was a great 
dockyard, and famous as the spot wherein Nelson 
refitted his fleet ere sailing forth to the Battle of 
Trafalgar. 

Taken as a whole, however, Antigua possesses 
few real attractions for visitors. The scenery is 
monotonous and reminds one of a vast, well-cul- 
tivated, but unattractive, farmland. From earliest 
times Antigua has been a sugar island; the thin 
soil and lack of water prevent many other profit- 
able crops from being grown and while, under 
war conditions, sugar pays handsomely, yet 
Antigua's prosperity is of the past and its outlook 
for the future is far from bright. 

BARBUDA 

Northeast thirty miles from Antigua is the 
little island of Barbuda, low, flat, out of the beaten 
track and once a veritable garden spot. 

Here, in former days, lived the Codringtons, 
owners of the islet and literally monarchs of all 
they surveyed. To this island manor they brought 



ANTIGUA AND ITS NEIGHBOR 61 

slaves from Africa, they imported cattle, sheep, 
goats, and hogs from England and, to afford sport 
and recreation for themselves and their guests, 
they stocked Barbuda with fallow deer, Guinea 
fowl, pheasants, and other game. 

Long years have passed since the "Great House" 
was tenanted by the feudal lords of Barbuda; 
Codrington Village has dwindled to a few wattled 
negro huts; the island has been left to nature and 
the blacks, and only the wild beasts and birds have 
prospered and increased. Where broad fields 
once bore rich crops, are now dense thickets of 
chaparral and jungles of scrub; crumbling walls 
and ruined buildings are buried under creepers and 
vines, and the once well-cultivated isle has become 
a wilderness abounding in wild cattle, deer, and 
feathered game. If fond of hunting, a visit to 
Barbuda is worth making, for there is sport in 
plenty and pigeons, ducks, plover, and wild fowl 
add their quota to the introduced game. In 
order to hunt on Barbuda a permit must be ob- 
tained from the agents in Antigua and everything 
one may require must be carried, for there are no 
accommodations for visitors at Barbuda and only 
by a small sailing vessel can one reach this Carib- 
bean game preserve. 

MONTSERRAT 

West of Antigua, and some fifty miles to the 



62 THE WEST INDIES 

south of St. Kitts, is Montserrat, a spot most 
beautiful to look upon, — a veritable emerald gem 
in a sapphire setting. 

Although a small island, only twelve miles long 
and seven miles wide, yet its mountains tower for 
three thousand feet above the Caribbean Sea and 
within its limited confines is at least one active 
volcanic crater. 

But so perfect is its composition, so admirably 
proportioned its mountains, hills, and valleys, that 
Montserrat appears more like an artist's master- 
piece than the reality, although no painter could 
ever hope to transfer such color, light, and atmos- 
phere to canvas. Dominating the island, a mas- 
sive, flat-topped, pyramidal mountain rises grandly 
against the sky, while, flanking it to right and left, 
are two stupendous bowl-like craters, their sides, — 
seamed, scarred, and riven by long-forgotten 
eruptions, now hidden beneath a rich mantle of 
verdure. Forest-clad are the higher mountain 
sides, but on their lower slopes are great orchards 
of limes, groves of cocoa, and neat terraced gardens 
which gradually give way to fields of waving cane 
stretching downwards to the thread of surf along 
the ebon beaches. 

Across the fields, and winding through the fertile 
valley towards the mountains, gleam white ribbons 
of roads while, half-hidden among countless palms, 
the little town of Plymouth nestles beside the sea. 



ANTIGUA AND ITS NEIGHBOR 63 

No doubt the Irish colonists, who first settled 
Montserrat, were reminded of their beloved Emer- 
ald Isle when they gazed upon this lovely spot with 
its rich and fertile valleys, its rippling streams and 
velvety green verdure. Indeed, Montserrat may 
well be called a West Indian Erin, for not only was 
it settled largelp by the "Wild Irish" but the most 
striking peculiarities of the place are the brogue 
upon its peoples' tongues and their Celtic names. 

It seems strange indeed to find coal-black negroes 
bearing such names as Patrick Donovan, Michael 
O'Hara, and Edward Mulcahy, but though their 
skins are dark these natives of Montserrat are as. 
quick-witted, easy-going, and as prone to "Blar- 
ney" as their Irish ancestors. Even the physical 
characteristics of the Celts have been inherited by 
many of the Montserratans, and red-headed, 
freckle-faced negroes are by no means uncommon, 
though far less often seen than formerly, for the 
island has passed through many lean years and 
large numbers of the people have migrated to more 
promising lands and the neighboring islands. 

To-day, however, Montserrat's one-time prosper- 
ity is in a measure returning, for limes and cocoa 
have supplanted cane to a large extent. Montserrat 
lime juice is known throughout the world and many 
planters are doing wonderfully well. But there is 
little to interest the casual visitor to Montserrat. 
Much of the town is dilapidated, broken down, and 



64 THE WEST INDIES 

in semi-ruins; vines, creepers, and gorgeous flowers 
clamber riotously over the crumbling walls of 
once beautiful mansions and imposing buildings, 
and shanty-like, flimsy huts crowd weed-grown 
courtyards and fill the gaps of tumble-down walls. 

Many of the streets are well kept and smoothly 
paved, the roads in the outlying districts are 
excellent, and a drive into the country and across 
the hills is the most enjoyable means of spending 
one's time in this tropical Erin. 

There are many beautiful views, several fine 
estates, groves of cocoa and lime orchards to be 
seen, while the active crater, known as the "Sou- 
friere," is the most interesting spot on the island. 

Here are steaming-hot beds of sulphur and sand, 
streams of boiling water, hot springs and f umaroles, 
— the whole forming a miniature inferno surrounded 
by a wealth of tropical foliage and within easy 
access from Plymouth. 




CHAPTER VI 

GUADELOUPE, WHERE WAVES THE TRICOLOR 

From horizon to horizon stretch the shores of 
Guadeloupe, upward to the drifting clouds soar 
its scores of peaks, and, gazing upon its countless 
valleys, its endless hills, its succession of mile-high 
mountains and its interminable shores, one feels 
as if looking upon a continent, rather than an 
island, and all preconceived ideas of these "small 
islands" are cast to the winds. 

A mere speck on the map, the bulk of Guade- 
loupe overwhelms the stranger, as the ship steams 
along the coast for hour after hour; for all the 
islands already visited, if rolled into one and mul- 
tiplied a hundredfold, would suffer woefully in 
comparison with this glorious, majestic island 
above which flies the tricolor of France. In bold, 
verdured headlands the island rises from the sea, 
and, by stupendous ridges, massive foothills, and 
abysmal purple-shadowed rifts, sweeps back and 
ever upward to the central mountain range, where, 
enthroned among the clouds, Soufriere lifts its regal 
head five thousand feet above the encircling sea. 
s 65 



66 THE WEST INDIES 

Almost awe-inspiring in its magnificent grandeur 
is this northern portion'of Guadeloupe, — a sublime 
panorama of forest-clad, mountainous country 
seemingly untouched by hand of man. But in 
reality much of the land is under cultivation and 
cocoa groves fill many a valley and clamber up the 
mountain slopes, and the foliage of coffee, spice 
trees, limes, oranges, and gardens mingles with the 
natural verdure of the bush and is unrecognizable 
from the passing ship. 

Here too, in the shadow of the mountain ranges, 
is Basseterre, the capital ; but steamers seldom stop 
there, for the commerce, trade, and industry of the 
island center at Pointe-a-Pitre, the chief port of 
Guadeloupe and situated near the southern mouth 
of Salt River on Grande Terre. 

In reality Guadeloupe consists of two islands, the 
more westerly and northerly being rugged, mag- 
nificent, and lofty, — a scenic wonderland, — and 
known as Guadeloupe proper, while to the east, 
and separated only by a narrow creek known as 
Salt River, lies Grande Terre, comparatively low 
and level and with little in the way of scenic 
beauties. In addition to these two main islands 
there are the "Saintes," — three small, towering 
islets off the southwestern coast; "Marie Galante," 
like a massive, terraced pyramid, and bulky "De- 
s trade" with its sliced-off summit, the whole cover- 
ing an area of over seven hundred square miles. 



GUADELOUPE 67 

In contrast to the superb mountain scenery of 
the northern half of Guadeloupe, Grande Terre 
seems even more dull and uninteresting than it is 
in reality, but it is wonderfully rich and every 
available inch of its surface is under cultivation, — 
largely sugar cane, — and close to the port is one 
of the largest sugar mills in the world, — the Usine 
Arbousier. 

1 Pointe-a-Pitre presents a busy, bustling scene and 
seems a great city after the decadent, poverty- 
stricken aspect of Montserrat, Antigua, and the 
northern islands. There are commodious stone 
docks, purring tugs with strings of lighters ply back 
and forth, numerous steamers, schooners, and 
square-riggers swing at anchor or are moored at 
the piers, the landlocked harbor teems with life, 
and the waterside streets of the well-built town are 
noisy with industry. 

Pointe-a-Pitre is badly in need of a street-clean- 
ing department, for it is none too tidy— a fault of 
many French towns — but it is far better kept than 
a few years ago and is well laid out ; its streets are 
wide, smooth, and straight, and one looks in vain 
for the miserable huts so typical of the British 
islands. To find such eyesores one must go to the 
poorer quarters and the suburbs, for, in the city 
itself, the buildings lining the streets are neat and 
brightly painted. They are mainly of wood, how- 
ever, for fires, earthquakes, and hurricanes have 



68 THE WEST INDIES 

swept Guadeloupe repeatedly, and the inhabitants 
have learned by experience that it's cheaper and 
easier to rebuild with timber than with stone and 
concrete. 

Typically French is the atmosphere of Pointe- 
a-Pitre, — the colors are brilliant almost to garish- 
ness, the women rival the glory of Solomon in their 
quaint, gay costumes and everywhere a chatter of 
French is heard. Everyone seems busy, prosper- 
ous, and energetic; drays creak and lumber along, 
laden with produce or hauling cargo from the ships ; 
motor trucks thunder by, and, about the market- 
place, the din is deafening. 

Around the great roofed market centers the life 
and business of Pointe-a-Pitre and on a Saturday, 
when the country people flock to town from far 
and near to sell their produce, the place is ablaze 
with color and packed to overflowing. Here, for 
the first time, one sees the picturesque costumes 
of the French West Indian women, — the dress 
which has made the women of Martinique and 
Guadeloupe famous for their beauty and which 
makes them appear as of a distinct race from the 
ragged, slovenly, unattractive females of Antigua, 
St. Kitts, or the other northern islands. 

In each of the French islands the costume varies 
in minor details, but in general effect it is similar, 
whether the wearer belongs to Guadeloupe, Mar- 
tinique, or Dominica, — for the latter island is more 



GUADELOUPE 69 

French than British in manners, customs, and 
speech, although an English colony. The chief 
characteristic of the Creole woman's costume is 
the turban or "Madras, " a gorgeously striped and 
checked cloth manufactured and sold for this 
special purpose, and tied in a coquettish, jaunty 
manner. In each island where the Madras is 
worn the method of tying it is distinct, and by the 
form of the turban the womenfolk's native island 
may readily be known. The dress itself is short- 
waisted, with enormous, trailing, stiffly-starched 
skirt, — preferably of glaring colors and large de- 
sign, — and, to finish off the whole, a brilliant silk 
kerchief or "foulard" is worn folded across the 
shoulders while strings of massive gold beads 
encircle the neck and enormous earrings and brace- 
lets adorn wrists and ears. 

It is to be regretted that this picturesque cos- 
tume is rapidly giving way to more conventional 
garments, and only among the older conservative 
set, and on Sundays and holidays, can the visitor 
see the Creole "filles" in all their glory, although 
some are always in evidence. 

With all its life, color, and bustle, and its charm- 
ing foreign atmosphere, Pointe-a-Pitre is unbear- 
ably hot at midday and there is comparatively 
little to be seen in and about the town. 

There is a massive cathedral in the center of the 
city, with a little open plaza before it ; there are 



70 THE WEST INDIES 

a few handsome residences in the same neighbor- 
hood, and there is a large square, or savanna, 
bordered by a shaded promenade leading to the 
inner harbor. There is also an attractive public 
garden, a theater, a museum, and a chamber of 
agriculture, but the principal public buildings, the 
government offices, and the residence of the gov- 
ernor are at Basseterre. 

The drive from Pointe-a-Pitre to the capital is 
charming and, as an automobile line makes regular 
daily trips between the two towns, the visitor may 
obtain an excellent idea of the island without the 
least inconvenience or exertion. 

Basseterre, as a town, is less interesting than 
Pointe-a-Pitre and is scarcely half the latter's 
size. Its chief importance lies in the fact that it 
is the capital and seat of government, and it makes 
no claim to being of commercial importance. 
The French very wisely separated commercial and 
political centers in their islands, thus inducing a 
more even distribution of wealth and population 
and compelling travel from place to place, with 
the result that their colonies are far more thickly 
settled than those of Britain, while excellent high- 
ways connect all important places. To this fore- 
sight the prosperity and progress of the French 
islands are largely due, but the French West 
Indians have placed less faith in sugar than their 
English neighbors and have never been given to 



GUADELOUPE 



7i 



"putting all their eggs in one basket," so to speak, 
and they have won out by providing a variety of 
resources to fall back upon when sugar ceased to 
pay an enormous profit. They have prospered 
where the British have gone bankrupt, good-sized 
towns and villages are scattered over the land, and 
their ports are busy, provided with modern ap- 
pliances, and are well filled with shipping. 

Perchance character and temperament have 
had much to do with this, for in the British islands, 
where French blood and traditions predominate, 
conditions are far better than in the strictly Eng- 
lish islands. 





CHAPTER VII 

DOMINICA, THE CARIBBEAN WONDERLAND 

Largest of the Leeward Islands, loftiest of the 
Lesser Antilles, and loveliest of the West Indian 
isles is Dominica. 

Twenty-five miles south of Guadeloupe it 
looms against the sky, a shimmering, opalescent 
vision, ethereal, hazy, and unreal, — like the dream 
castle of a fairy tale. And none of the enchant- 
ment of distance is lost on nearing Dominica, for 
it is doubtful if anywhere in the whole wide world 
can be found an island more beautiful. 

It seems as if nature had done her utmost, had 
exerted her every effort to produce a masterpiece, 
and Dominica was the result, for, as one travels 
north or south along the crescent of the Caribbees, 
the mountains become higher and higher and the 
beauties and luxuriance of the islands increase, 
until altitude, scenery, vegetation, and grandeur 
culminate here. 

From sea to sky the island is one towering, ma- 
jestic mass of mountains. Upward from the 
azure sea they spring in sheer dizzying precipices 

72 



DOMINICA 73 

and soaring peaks. They overhang the passing 
ship and stretch in endless succession to distant 
summits lost in blue haze amid the clouds. Be- 
tween them yawn stupendous clefts, black canons 
and mile-deep gorges. Foaming torrents dash 
through broad fertile valleys towards the sea and 
flashing cataracts spring from the dense verdure 
and fall, like molten silver, into unseen shadowy 
depths. And over all is spread a wealth of vegeta- 
tion, a mantle of forest, inconceivable in its lux- 
uriance, its color, and its variety. In one vast sea 
of infinitely tinted green it sweeps from beating 
surf across valleys, hills, tablelands, and mountains, 
to the very summit of sky-piercing Diablotin which 
towers, sublime, massive, titanic, above all else, — 
the highest peak in the Lesser Antilles. 

For mile after mile, for hour after hour, the ship 
steams along this coast and ever the wondrous 
panorama of scenery stretches to north and south 
and from beach to clouds. Many a tiny village is 
passed, many a broad river-filled valley is opened 
to view, cocoa groves, lime orchards, and golden 
patches of cane are seen breaking the deeper tint 
of forest, until, at last, the steamer comes to rest 
off the port of Roseau. 

Fortunate indeed is the voyager who first looks 
upon Dominica as the sun glows like a ball of mol- 
ten metal on the western rim of the sea. When the 
sapphire surface of the Caribbean is transformed to 



74 THE WEST INDIES 

a sheet cf polished amethyst; when, through the 
soft, effulgent glow of waning daylight, the naked 
cliffs are touched with burnished gold, the verdure 
gleams with coppery hues and the trade-clouds 
wreathe the mountaintops in diadems of pink and 
rose. At any hour, at any time from dawn till 
dark, Dominica is beautiful beyond compare, but 
when the visitor steps ashore at Roseau comes dis- 
appointment, for the capital is the one blot upon 
this perfect island, where only man is vile. 

Picturesque to a degree, marvelously neat and 
clean, yet Roseau is scarce more than a town of 
hovels. Unkempt, unpainted shanties are built 
upon and within the ruins of fine stone buildings 
long since fallen to decay; they stand in scores 
along the best streets and obtrude themselves on 
every hand, and the few really good and substan- 
tial stores and residences are almost lost to sight 
amid the omnipresent, shabby, flimsy structures. 
It is the same ridiculous tax on improvements 
which exists in all the Leeward Islands which keeps 
Roseau in this disgraceful state, for Dominica is 
the most prosperous of the Confederation, its 
people, — albeit almost wholly of the colored race, — 
are industrious, intelligent, and comparatively well- 
to-do and they realize the shortcomings of their 
capital. Not until improvement and progress are 
fostered, rather than discouraged, will the British 
West Indian towns become worthy of their name 



DOMINICA 75 

and their surroundings, and until that time, Roseau 
will remain as it is, — an eyesore, an ulcer, and a 
disgrace. 

But with all its faults one can find much to 
admire in Roseau. There are many spots of in- 
terest and beauty about the town, and, once first 
impressions are overcome, the visitor will find 
Roseau is not so bad as it looks. 

Every street within the town, whether quaint, 
cobbled lane or broad smooth macadamed thor- 
oughfare, — and there are many such, — is swept and 
scoured daily and every street is edged by open 
gutters ever filled with rushing water from the 
hills, for Roseau has a water supply unequaled in 
the West Indies. Indeed, the stranger is apt to 
think Dominica is over supplied with water, for 
the greatest drawback to an otherwise beautiful 
and healthy climate is the superabundant rain. 
Of all the West Indies, Dominica can boast of 
being the wettest and, for that matter, there are 
but few places in the world where more rain falls 
during the year. In many of the mountainous 
districts over three hundred inches of rain is the 
average. Think of it! over an inch a day year in 
and year out. No wonder the natives say that in 
Dominica they measure the rain "by yards, not 
inches. " 

But this is only in the highlands, where the 
clouds from the Atlantic drift against the cool, 



76 THE WEST INDIES 

forest-covered peaks and bathe the land in a con- 
tinual heavy mist or light rain. Along the coast 
the rainfall is much less — only a little more than 
one hundred inches at Roseau — but there are no 
distinct "dry" and "wet" seasons, rather a 
"wet" and a "wetter. " 

Scarce a day passes without rain, but, as a rule, 
the showers are of short duration. They often fall 
from a blue and cloudless sky, no one pays any 
attention to them and, inconvenient as they may 
be when sightseeing, yet they are necessary. The 
luxuriance, fertility, and beauty of the island de- 
pend upon the seemingly excessive rainfall; with- 
out it, Dominica would be but a barren waste and 
even a comparatively short drought plays havoc 
with the crops and results in untold losses to the 
planters. 

If the visitor wishes to see the interior of Domin- 
ica, or plans to go any considerable distance from 
the town, it will be necessary to travel on horseback, 
for there are few roads suitable for wheeled vehi- 
cles on the island, and while there are many car- 
riages and motor cars in Roseau their sphere of 
usefulness is very limited. 

Luckily for those who cannot ride, there is enough 
of interest to occupy one's time for several days in 
the town and within easy walking or driving dis- 
tance. . There are numerous well-stocked stores, 
several excellent boarding-houses, a good hotel, 




CARIB GIRL, DOMINICA 



DOMINICA 77 

an ice factory, a museum, two clubs, Anglican, 
Methodist, and Catholic churches, a convent, the 
Government House, the ancient historic fort with 
its empty embrasures pointing over the town and 
speaking eloquently of slave insurrections in the 
past, and a Carnegie library, not to mention the 
jail, the hospital, and the various government 
buildings. 

The crowning glory of Dominica's capital, the 
most beautiful and interesting spot to be seen 
near town, is the Botanic Station or Public Garden 
and scarce five minutes' walk from the landing- 
place. Here, at the foot of Morne Bruce, and some 
fifty acres in extent, is a veritable wonderland of 
tropic vegetation. Broad velvety lawns are dotted 
with rows and groups of palms of every known 
kind and from all corners of the world; trees, 
wonderful with gorgeous flowers or marvelous in 
habit, border the smooth gravel drives and paths, 
and an endless variety of blooming shrubs and 
brilliant flowers fill innumerable beds. Stretching 
up the hillside, and filling the shady dale at its 
base, are nutmeg and cocoa groves, orchards of 
fruit trees, hedges of vanilla, and an infinite 
number of timber, rubber, and otherwise commer- 
cially valuable trees, while, surrounded by gigantic 
bamboos and rank foliage, are great thatched sheds 
which shelter hundreds of rare and wonderful 
orchids. No other botanic gardens in the Antilles 



78 THE WEST INDIES 

can compare with it, and if the visitor to Dominica 
sees nothing else on the island his trip will be well 
repaid. 

From the summit of Morne Bruce, — an easy 
climb, — a superbly beautiful view may be obtained. 
At one's feet lie the gardens and the town, — look- 
ing very pretty from this height, — to the west 
stretches the illimitable blue Caribbean and, in- 
land, is the magnificent Roseau Valley with the 
flashing, foaming river winding through the vast 
lime orchards which cover hill and dale to the 
steeper mountainsides which rise in wild, forest- 
clad heights in every direction. 

Near the gardens, but a step from the en- 
trance in fact, is the Bath Estate, the head- 
quarters of the lime industry of the world, for it 
is the largest lime estate in Dominica and this 
island is the greatest lime-producing country on 
the globe. 

Also within easy reach of Roseau are the hot 
springs of Wotten Waven, or a launch trip may be 
taken to Soufriere and its crater harbor, where 
boiling streams, steaming fumaroles, and vast 
sulphur beds cover the mountainsides of a valley 
indescribably beautiful. Another wonderful trip 
is by horseback up the Roseau Valley to and 
through the cool, shady forests of the mountains 
to the famed Mountain Lake, a lonely cairn fill- 
ing the crater of an extinct volcano among the 



DOMINICA 79 

perpetual clouds on the roof of the island. Still 
another trip, but one requiring strength, en- 
durance, and strenuous work, is that to the 
Boiling Lake, a vast, active crater wherein is 
a great lake of bubbling, boiling water and 
worthy of being classed among the wonders of 
the world. 

Weeks might be spent in Dominica without see- 
ing half its wonders, whole volumes might be 
written on its beauties, its marvels, its resources, 
and its people, for much of its vast primeval 
forests is still unknown, its mountains hold many 
a phenomenon undreamed of by the outside world, 
its possibilities are almost limitless, its history is 
fascinating and romantic, and among its people are 
numbered the few survivors of that once powerful 
and warlike race which roamed the Caribbees ere 
Europeans ever set foot upon their shores, — the 
yellow Caribs. Once bloodthirsty, indomitable 
cannibals, the Caribs fought Spanish, French, 
Dutch, and British in turn, waging a relentless, 
though hopeless, struggle against terrific odds for 
centuries, until at last, beaten but unconquered, 
their numbers decimated by massacre and butch- 
ery, robbed of their lands and homes and many of 
them sold into slavery, they were given tiny reser- 
vations on St. Vincent and Dominica. But even 
nature seemed to conspire to destroy them, for 
those on St. Vincent were practically swept from 



8o 



THE WEST INDIES 



existence in the eruption of 1902, and to-day the 
only pure-blooded aborigines of the Antilles live 
quiet, peaceful, law-abiding lives at Salybia on the 
windward coast of Dominica. 




CHAPTER VIII 

MARTINIQUE, THE LAND OF JOSEPHINE 

Fourteen years have passed since Morne Pelee 
burst forth and with its blazing gases, scalding mud, 
and white-hot lava bombs, swept Saint-Pierre 
from off the map, and, in an instant, destroyed 
the work and growth of centuries, together with 
forty thousand human lives. 

To-day, where stood this fairest city of the Carib- 
bees, only a blackened skeleton remains, while, 
above the ruin that it wrought, looms grim Pelee, 
menacing, forbidding, sinister, like some frowning, 
monstrous ogre gloating over the dead bodies of 
its victims. 

But from the passing ship one would scarce 
realize that here was enacted one of the most 
awful tragedies the world has ever known, for 
nature has striven to hide the scars of her destruc- 
tive rage, and brush, vines, and creepers screen the 
grisly evidences of Pelee's fury. 

Once famed for the life, gaiety, wealth, and 
wickedness of its capital; noted far and wide for 
the beauty of its women ; raved over for its scenic 

6 8l 



82 THE WEST INDIES 

attractions; praised for its progress and its splen- 
did roads, and known to all as the birthplace of the 
Empress Josephine, Martinique sprang into world- 
wide prominence on that fateful May morning in 
1902. But after the destruction of Saint-Pierre the 
island sank into oblivion, its fame departed and 
its past was forgotten, and yet, Martinique is as 
beautiful as ever; the wondrous scenery and lux- 
uriant vegetation still remain; perfect highways, 
thread fields, and forests, mountains and valleys; 
the women are as comely as of yore, and Fort-de- 
France is a big, busy, modern, attractive town. 
To the world at large Saint-Pierre was Martinique, 
and many seem to think that in the fearful erup- 
tion the entire island was devastated. As a matter 
of fact, only a few square miles were laid waste, — 
a mere microscopical portion of the island, — and 
Martinique, as a whole, still remains the same 
queenly island from whose shores the one-time 
Queen of France went forth, to return, cast aside 
and broken-hearted, to rest forever in the lovely 
tropic land of her birth. 

Wonderfully alluring is Martinique from the 
sea, — not so wild, majestic, and awe-inspiring in its 
grandeur as Dominica, not so lofty in its mountain 
heights, — but marvelously varied in its surface, 
luxuriant and green beyond belief and with a 
strange indefinable atmosphere of peace, bright- 
ness, and promise peculiar to itself. 



MARTINIQUE 83 

Southward from the ruins of Saint-Pierre the 
shore rises from the sea in a series of sharp ridges, 
their seaward faces sliced abruptly off and giving a 
strange, unique effect of innumerable sugar-loaf- 
shaped cliffs along the shore. Back towards the 
central mountain range the hills rise in great green 
billows, in places forming broad fertile tablelands, 
in other spots cleft by dark gorges or rich smiling 
valleys, while, here and there, steep-sided towering 
peaks jut abruptly upward to the clouds. And 
varied as the surface of the land is the verdure 
which clothes it from surf to topmost wind-swept 
pinnacle. Dark with growth of forests wherein 
ax has never rung on wood, coppery with cocoa 
groves, golden with cane fields, emerald with 
bananas, and velvety with orchards of oranges, 
limes, and lemons, the sea of green stretches as 
far as eye can see. In deep sheltered coves be- 
tween the pyramidal headlands little towns and 
fishing villages nestle by the sea, their white build- 
ings and red roofs ever topped by a gleaming 
church spire, and looking like clusters of flowers 
amid the palms. Bright-hued boats bob and 
curtsey to the dancing waves, more and more 
frequent grow the settlements, farther and farther 
from the sea recede the mountains, wider and more 
numerous are the cultivated lands, until, beyond a 
red-cliffed headland, the harbor of Fort-de- Prance 
is reached. Upon the shores of the great, almost 



84 THE WEST INDIES 

landlocked bay, brilliant in its coloring, flanked 
by verdure-clad hills, and ancient age-gray Fort 
Royal frowning from its headland, and with a 
background of lofty green mountains, Fort-de- 
France makes a wonderfully pretty picture. 

There are no really striking buildings in the 
town, — the most notable being the church with its 
curious open iron-work spire designed to withstand 
earthquakes and hurricanes, — but there are nu- 
merous well-built, large, and prominent structures, 
and houses, shops, stores, and other buildings are 
far superior in appearance to the majority of the 
towns in the Lesser Antilles. The streets are 
straight and smoothly paved — albeit none too 
cleanly — the gaudy costumes of the women lend 
an air of brightness, life, and vivacity to the scene, 
and architecture, colors, people, gendarmes, man- 
ners, and language are unmistakably and typically 
French. 

The Mecca for every visitor to Fort-de-France 
is, of course, the statue of the Empress Josephine. 
With her beautiful head turned towards her birth- 
place at Trois Islets across the bay, the girlish 
queen stands carved in snowy marble, surrounded 
by a circle of towering royal palms in the center of 
the broad savanna. It is a magnificent monument 
to Martinique's most famous daughter, — the 
Creole maid who, born in an overseer's shack and 
reared to womanhood in a sugar mill, — for the 



MARTINIQUE 85 

home of her parents had been destroyed by a 
hurricane, — rose to the supreme height of Em- 
press of the French as wife of Napoleon. 

About the savanna are broad avenues shaded by 
enormous trees, and just beyond is the secluded 
inner harbor behind the fort and with docks 
crowded with shipping. 

The Fort-de-France market is large and well 
kept and should by all means be visited, for here 
one may see all the many types that go to make up 
the population of Martinique, while other notable 
places of interest are the Canal de Gueydon, with 
its cascade flashing down to the river below; the 
Government House on the hill overlooking the city 
and harbor; old Fort Royal, and Trois Islets, where 
the ruins of Josephine's birthplace may still be 
seen, as well as the mill wherein she dwelt until 
fifteen years of age, and the church where she was 
baptized and which contains a picture presented 
by Napoleon and a memorial tablet to her mother. 

But to enjoy Martinique, to gain an idea of the 
beauties, luxuriance, and scenery of the island, the 
visitor should drive through the interior by motor 
car. The roads are magnificent, every town and 
village is connected with the capital by beautiful 
highroads and wherever one goes he may be sure 
of the best there is, of unbounded hospitality and 
of French courtesy. By wonderful curves and 
easy grades the roads scale the mountain heights ; 



86 THE WEST INDIES 

for mile after mile they skirt the brinks of sheer, 
dizzying precipices; they follow the banks of roar- 
ing mountain torrents in shadowy gorges; they 
thread their way through the dim, cool aisles of 
primeval forests and they stretch across countless 
acres of waving cane fields. 

Only by such a trip can one appreciate this 
tropic isle; only by such means can the visitor 
obtain an insight of the size, the fertility, and the 
scenic wonders of the West Indies, and only bj' 
actually seeing them can the stranger know what 
the tropical forests are like or realize the gigantic 
size of the trees, the wonderful maze of lianas, the 
infinite variety of strange air plants and orchids, 
and the rank, riotous growth of the "high bush. " 

It is something impossible to describe, for words 
are inadequate to convey the remotest conception 
of scenes so totally different from an3^thing one 
has ever seen. It must be viewed, experienced, 
visualized, to be appreciated. Then, and not till 
then, will you know the spell of the tropics, the 
subtle charm these islands hold, the irresistible 
fascination they possess for those who know them 
well. 

Seductive, languorous, voluptuous as her daugh- 
ters, is fair Martinique and, — unless care is used, — 
as dangerous, for, like Eden of old, this Caribbean 
Paradise is the home of a deadly serpent, — the 
dreaded fer-de-lance, the only poisonous snake 




FORT DE FRANCE, MARTINIQUE 




COALING A SHIP, ST. LUCIA 



MARTINIQUE 87 

found in the Antilles, — with the exception of 
Trinidad, — and confined solely to Martinique 
and St. Lucia, and the greatest drawback to these 
two charming isles. 




CHAPTER IX 

ST. LUCIA, AN ISLAND STRONGHOLD 

Land is never out of sight as one sails up or down 
the Lesser Antilles, for they are strung like beads 
along the edge of the Caribbean Sea, and scarce a 
score of miles of water lies between any two of the 
islands. 

Always, as one lovely spot is left astern, another 
equally beautiful looms above the horizon ahead 
and, in the days when France and England 
struggled for supremacy in the West Indies, this 
proximity of the islands proved a blessing and a 
curse to the rival powers. 

A French colony sandwiched between two Brit- 
ish isles, or vice versa, afforded an opportunity for 
constant attacks and it is little wonder that the 
islands were constantly changing hands, or that 
the inhabitants never knew, — from day to day, — 
to which flag they owed allegiance. 

But on the other hand the warring nations found 
it most convenient to be able to establish naval 
stations and garrisons and to build powerful forts, 
within easy striking distance of their foes, and to 



ST. LUCIA 89 

maintain a constant espionage over their neigh- 
bors' fleets and strongholds. 

Such was the case in St. Lucia, which the British 
fortified so strongly that it became known as the 
"Gibraltar of the West Indies," and from whose 
northern coast old Admiral Rodney watched the 
powerful French fleet at anchor in the harbor of 
Fort-de-France. Here, in the great sheltered bay 
of Gros Islets, the British frigates lay at anchor, 
cables ready to slip, guns shotted, and men at 
quarters, until the unsuspecting French sailed 
forth from the protection of Fort Royal. Then, 
from St. Lucia's shores, the British followed in 
pursuit, and off Dominica's coast was fought the 
terrific battle which made England mistress of the 
Caribbean. 

But an even more interesting spot than the 
rendezvous of Rodney's fleet lies just off the south- 
ern shore of Martinique and in plain view of the 
ship as she leaves the birthplace of Josephine 
astern. 

This is Diamond Rock, a sheer, towering pin- 
nacle lising abruptly from the sea to a height of 
six hundred feet. It seems impossible that any 
human being could surmount this precipitous 
fang-like crag, but not only has it been scaled, but 
its summit actually has been fortified. This 
happened in the eighteenth century, when a party 
of British bluejackets clambered up the perpendic- 



90 THE WEST INDIES 

ular sides of Diamond Rock and, by almost super- 
human efforts, hoisted cannons to its top. 

Here, for months, the handful of men defied all 
attempts of the French to dislodge them and from 
their lofty fortress commanded the seas for miles 
about, and shelled every enemy ship that ventured 
within range. Only when their provisions and 
supplies were exhausted did they surrender and, 
in token of their gallantry and their remarkable 
feat, the lonely sea-girt pinnacle was entered in 
the official lists of the admiralty as "H. M. S. 
Diamond Rock" — the only rock in the world to 
become a ship of war. 

Like all the volcanic islands of the chain, St. 
Lucia is rugged, broken, and mountainous, but in 
comparison with Guadeloupe, Martinique, and 
Dominica, it appears scarce more than hilly as one 
approaches its coast. 

But while St. Lucia's mountains are not as lofty 
as those of her northern sisters, they are far more 
varied. Serrated, jagged, needle-pointed, knife- 
edged, rounded, conical, and precipitous, they 
appear as though picked up at random by some 
giant's hand and tossed helter-skelter into the sea 
to form St. Lucia. 

Between the jumble of mountains and hills are 
dark, deep canons, yawning chasms and narrow 
valleys, while over all is spread a robe of forest, 
filled with dye and cabinet woods, spice trees and 



ST. LUCIA 91 

gorgeous flowers and through which plunge 
cataracts and foaming mountain torrents. 

Beautiful and fertile is the island, wonderfully 
picturesque and varied in its scenery, but St. 
Lucia's chief importance lies in its strongly fortified 
harbor with its great coaling station. Fittingly 
was it called the "Gibraltar of the West Indies," 
for when a ship steams between Vigie Head to the 
north and Cocoanut Headland to the south, she 
must run a gauntlet of massive forts and great 
guns commanding a harbor entrance scarce five 
hundred yards in width. Two miles into the land 
the narrow strait leads, hemmed in by hills on 
which is the Insane Hospital, — so close to the 
channel that the inmates' voices are audible to 
those on the passing ships, — while hidden on the 
southern ridge are masked batteries which com- 
mand the land and sea for miles in every direction. 

Only by reducing these forts could an enemy 
approach and, even then, the entrance to St. 
Lucia's harbor could be barred by a single sunken 
hulk or made impassable by a few well-placed 
mines. At the head of the great, semicircular 
harbor, to which the fortified channel leads, lies 
Castries, stretching along the water front and 
clambering up the steep, verdured hillside beyond. 
Little idea of the town can be obtained from the 
ship, however, for streets and buildings, — even 
many of the roofs themselves, — are hidden behind 



92 THE WEST INDIES 

miniature mountains of coal which is piled every- 
where on docks, wharves, and along the water- 
front streets. 

Deep water extends up to the substantial stone 
docks and here, for the first time, the vessel is 
moored to the land and passengers may step 
ashore. But, before doing so, the visitor's atten- 
tion will no doubt be attracted, and his interest 
held, by the hurrying, noisy, black women who, like 
busy ants, pass ceaselessly back and forth between 
the coal piles and the waiting ships. These are 
the human machines which load the vessels with 
fuel from St. Lucia's supply, and no one has yet 
been able to devise any mechanical means of 
coaling as rapidly, as surely, and as economically 
in St. Lucia as by women's heads. To Northern 
minds it may seem inhuman, abhorrent, debasing, 
for women and girls to toil for hour after hour in 
the broiling sun with coal-laden baskets, weighing 
more than an able-bodied man can lift, upon their 
heads; but no pity need be wasted. The women 
are as happy, contented, and light-hearted as 
possible; they sing, dance, and skylark while 
waiting for their baskets to be filled by the male 
workers, — whose task is to shovel the coal into 
the baskets, — and they would laugh to scorn any 
suggestion that they were suffering or were even 
working "too hard." 

To them it is the easiest and most congenial of 



ST. LUCIA 93 

tasks, a source of good wages at which they can 
labor as they see fit, and the person who attempted 
to introduce a mechanical coaling device would 
stand a good chance of being mobbed by the black 
Amazons for taking away their means of livelihood. 

We hear much of the West Indian negroes' 
laziness, but he who sees the St. Lucia women, — 
and men for that matter, — toiling at coaling a ship 
will never accuse them of laziness thereafter. The 
fact is, the West Indian colored man, or woman, is 
not lazy, as we know the term, but they cannot 
bring themselves to work regularly. When they 
work, they work with a will and with tremendous 
energy and never seem to tire, but they cannot be 
bound to regular hours, they labor as humor or 
necessity moves them, and, between tasks, enjoy 
to the utmost the delightful sensation of doing 
absolutely nothing. Taken all in all they are a 
good-natured, happy-go-lucky, peaceful, harmless, 
usually honest lot and childlike in their ideals and 
temperament. As nature has done everything for 
them, as food may be had almost for the trouble 
of picking it, as shelter is unnecessary and cloth- 
ing is required only to comply with the law, why, 
after all, should they wear themselves out by 
working? 

The town of Castries is not of great interest, for 
it is as flat as a table and there are few attractive 
or prominent buildings, but the streets are smooth, 



94 THE WEST INDIES 

straight, and laid out at right angles, the place is 
clean and neat and, as a whole, is far more attrac- 
tive and well kept than the ports of the other 
British islands to the north. Most of the houses 
are of two stories, with overhanging balconies 
formed by the projecting upper floors; they are in 
good repair and well painted and there are no ob- 
trusive, ramshackle huts save in the outskirts and 
the slums of Castries. 

Even these are a vast improvement over dwell- 
ings of the same class in the other islands and many 
of the poorest houses are brightly painted, well 
built and toylike in their attractive design. Back 
of the town towers a wooded hill, known as "The 
Morne, " where, embowered amid shade trees and 
palms are the residences of the government officials, 
prominent merchants, and well-to-do citizens, 
while on the very summit are the big, breezy 
barracks of the garrison. 

In the center of the city is a shaded, pleasant 
park or plaza; a picturesque canal, fringed by great 
royal palms and spanned by artistic bridges, runs 
beside the street in the rear of the town at the foot 
of the Morne, and there are several fine churches, 
some excellent schools, a large market, and a 
library to be seen. A short distance from the 
docks is a charming botanic garden, beautifully 
situated on a level patch of land in the shelter of a 
lofty hill, and while not so large or complete as the 



ST. LUCIA 95 

gardens at St. Kitts or Dominica, it is even more 
attractive in some ways. 

But, as in all the islands, the most interesting 
sights are in the outlying country, and, as St. 
Lucia's roads are excellent and public motor cars 
and carriages are numerous, a drive should be 
taken by all means. 

Very different from the other islands is the scen- 
ery of St. Lucia. There are no great cane fields 
and huge sugar mills and few large estates or ex- 
tensive areas of cultivation, but everywhere are 
open meadows, rich valleys, wooded mountains, 
green hills, and luxuriant verdure scarcely touched 
by the hand of man. Extremely fertile and with 
boundless agricultural possibilities, yet St. Lucia 
is woefully neglected and even the natural re- 
sources are undeveloped. 

Cabinet and dyewoods abound in the forests and 
along the highways ; cocoa, spices, fruit, limes, and 
other valuable tropical products grow to perfection, 
and yet, were it not for the coaling station, the 
island would be bankrupt and poverty-stricken. 

It might be an excellent thing for St. Lucia if 
the coaling station was abandoned and the garrison 
removed, for then the people would be compelled 
to take advantage of the blessings bestowed upon 
them by nature and their island would be devel- 
oped as it deserves. 

But this will probably never take place and no 



96 THE WEST INDIES 

doubt the St. Lucians, as a whole, will continue to 
live, — like parasites, — upon the British troops and 
will toil and sweat at the filthy, black coal piles 
rather than lead a freer, better, and more prosper- 
ous existence in the fresh air of their lovely land. 
It must not be assumed, however, that St. Lucia 
does not produce anything. Many limes, a great 
deal of fruit, and quantities of cocoa and spices, as 
well as some sugar, are raised and exported and 
there are many beautiful, well-cultivated and well- 
paying estates on the island. 

Like Dominica, Montserrat, and many other 
volcanic islands, St. Lucia possesses an active, 
though dormant, crater which is known as the 
"Soufriere," but which, unlike many of the others, 
is within easy reach and may be visited with little 
exertion or trouble. 

For over two centuries this crater has been famed 
for the curative properties of its hot, impregnated 
waters and it is well worth a visit, if only to see the 
Pitons, at the entrance to Soufriere Bay near 
whose shores the crater is situated. 

Of all things in St. Lucia the Grand and Petit 
Pitons are the most interesting, the most wonderful, 
and the most noteworthy, and nowhere else in the 
West Indies, — or in the world for that matter, — 
is there any natural formation like them. 

In twin, gigantic cones they rise for near three 
thousand feet directly from the sea, their precipi- 



ST. LUCIA 97 

tous sides clothed with plush-like green, their sum- 
mits needle-pointed and, despite the vulgar com- 
parison, reminding one of "Donkey's Ears," a 
name bestowed upon them years ago by mariners. 
To see the Pitons at their best, one should look 
upon them as they loom black and titanic against 
the lurid western sky at sunset, or, better still, sail 
close to their bases in the little coastal steamer that 
plies between Castries and Soufriere. Thus viewed 
they are sublime in their tremendous grandeur, 
their great height marvelously magnified by their 
isolation from surrounding hills. One feels awed 
and overwhelmed when gazing directly upward at 
the sky-piercing summits of these terrific monoliths, 
forced, by some fearful cataclysm of the past from 
the ocean's depths, to stand, forever, as titanic 
guardians of the sea-filled crater which forms the 
bay. 



CHAPTER X 

BARBADOS I 
THE TIGHT LITTLE, RIGHT LITTLE ISLAND 

So impressive, rugged, rankly luxuriant, and 
colorful are the Leeward Islands that, by contrast, 
it is almost a relief to look upon Barbados, low, 
flat, dull, and commonplace from a distance. 
Uninteresting, unattractive appears this most 
easterly of the Lesser Antilles from the sea and with 
no hint, from its exterior, of the charms and beau- 
ties concealed within its bosom. 

The town presents an uncompromising row of 
buildings behind the docks ; smoking factory chim- 
neys rise here and there; steamers, ships, and small 
craft swing at anchor ; a maze of spars and rigging 
forms a network of black tracery above the water- 
front and, behind all, are rolling, dull-green 
hills. 

Aside from an occasional palm, the ardent, blaz- 
ing sunlight, the bright tints of buildings, and the 
gaudy colors of the fishing-boats, there is little 
hint of the tropics in the scene, — save the water. 

98 



BARBADOS 99 

And, looking upon this, the visitor forgets all else 
and gazes spellbound, fascinated, bereft of words 
to voiee admiration. 

Against beaches of dazzling white, it laps in lazy, 
caressing waves of even whiter foam evolved from 
a marvelous, pellucid stretch of turquoise so clear 
and ethereal it seems to have no body, no substance, 
but rather a film of transparent crystal. Blotched 
with claret, mauve, even magenta, — the turquoise 
deepens to malachite, to cobalt, to hyacinthine 
tints, until it merges in the indigo of the open sea; 
with each ripple, each tiny wave upon the glassy 
surface, a tracery of lapis-lazuli or sapphire. 

Above it wheel the snowy-breasted gulls, drop- 
ping like meteors and scattering showers of pris- 
matic spray and flashing drops like priceless jewels, 
to rise on dripping pinions with breasts trans- 
formed to soft moss-green by the sunlight, reflected 
upwards from the coral sand through fathoms of 
liquid emerald. 

And, looking downward from the ship's rail, 
one gazes, not at the surface of the sea hiding its 
secrets from human eyes, but into immeasurable 
depths of blue-green atmosphere through which 
move spectral, half-distinguishable shapes gaudily 
riotous with color, — strange, unbelievable tropic 
fish, as, brilliant in their rainbow hues as the 
feathered denizens of equatorial jungles, — veritable 
butterflies of the sea. 



ioo THE WEST INDIES 

Across this fairyland water one must needs 
travel by small boat to gain the shore, for the ships 
anchor a mile or more from land in Carlisle Bay. 
But there is no trouble in securing transportation, 
rather is it difficult to avoid being carried shore- 
ward piecemeal. Scarcely does the vessel's screw 
cease churning the harbor into pistachio suds ere 
scores of negro boatmen clamber up dangling 
ropes, or by meager toe and finger hold on the 
edges of steel hull-plates, and, like a crowd of 
pirates, take possession of decks ; struggling, shout- 
ing, chaffing, and vilifying one another in their 
frantic efforts to secure the confused passengers 
as fares for their craft. Each and every one, to 
judge by their statements, is the only responsible, 
honest, reliable boatman of Barbados and all 
others are thieves, cut-throats, and irresponsible 
black vagabonds. Each, according to his own 
story, is the runner and representative of the only 
desirable or possible hotel or boarding-house on 
the island, and each thrusts greasy cards, circu- 
lars, and folders of restaurants, hostelries, garages, 
livery stables, and curio dealers into the hands, 
laps, or pockets of every passenger within reach. 
But they are a good-natured, laughing, happy lot 
and we can hardly blame them for their insistence, 
when we realize how keen is competition for a live- 
lihood in Barbados. Here, where two hundred 
thousand people dwell upon less than two hundred 




GATHERING SEA EGGS, BARBADOS 




THE WIND-SWEPT MAHOGANY TREES. BARBADOS 



BARBADOS 101 

square miles of land ; here on an island more densely 
inhabited than any spot in the world, — save China, 
— there is no place for the indolent, lackadaisical, 
easy-going, come-day, go-day, God-save-Sunday 
negro of the other islands. It is a case of work or 
starve for every man, woman, and child and, as the 
man of color has an inborn horror of an empty 
stomach, he chooses the lesser of the two evils and 
works. 

As a matter of fact it makes little difference 
which one of the boats one takes, which darkey one 
chooses as porter, boatman, or man Friday; their 
charges are fixed by law, the boats are all under 
inspection by the officials, and every man Jack of 
the crowd is licensed. In case of overcharge, in- 
solence, or any other shortcoming, a word to the 
black "Bobby" at the landing-place will meet 
with prompt and decisive action, for, by bitter 
experience, the Barbadians have learned that 
white supremacy is the only solution of the 
racial problem, and that only by keeping their 
black brothers' noses to the grindstone, can that 
supremacy be maintained. 

Stretching far into the bay, parallel with the 
waterfront of the town, and but a few rods distant, 
is a long stone breakwater or pier and, rounding 
this, one comes into the real harbor or ' ' careenage " 
of Bridgetown. Probably the first object which 
will attract the observant stranger is,— or at least 



102 THE WEST INDIES 

was when this was written, — a strange jumble of 
slender objects projecting from the surface of the ca- 
reenage and resembling a cargo of Brobdingnagian 
toothpicks tossed helter-skelter into the channel 
and on to an anchored barge. To reach the land- 
ing-steps the visitor must pass close to these 
puzzling objects and then he discovers that they 
were placed here purposely and with malice afore- 
thought, for the titanic toothpicks are steel rails 
driven into the bottom of the fairway in a bristling 
chevaux defrise, while those upon the barge are fas- 
tened securely in place, like a skeleton roof with 
projecting steel rafters. Did you not seek in- 
formation from your boatman you would never 
guess the real import of this astonishing affair, 
for it is Barbados' sole and only "fortification " and 
was designed with the purpose of preventing 
wandering German warships, or raiders, from en- 
tering Bridgetown and making off with the coal 
supply at the upper end of the careenage. 

Apparently it never occurred to the ingenious 
originator of Bridgetown's "defense" that an 
able-bodied boat's crew could pull up the rails, 
that a well-placed charge of dynamite would clear 
the channel in an instant, that a vessel lying in the 
offing would have the town at her mercy under her 
guns, or that nearby beaches, the Royal Mail Dock, 
or even the outer side of the breakwater, beckoned 
invitingly for any one to come ashore when and 



BARBADOS 103 

where they saw fit. No indeed; in the minds of 
Barbados' preparedness experts the enemy must 
row into the careenage after the manner of all 
law-abiding visitors when, presto! they would 
find their way barred by the crisscross rails and 
the narrow passageway shut by the "armored" 
barge hastily drawn into the gap. But all joking 
aside, it is a splendid illustration of the terror which 
filled the West Indians when Germany's raiders 
cruised the Caribbean in the early days of the war, 
and it no doubt served to quiet the fears of the 
negroes. Moreover it offered an exceptional op- 
portunity for some keen, shrewd 'Badian to unload 
a lot of old railroad iron on the government at a 
tremendous profit. 

At the landing-place one steps directly into the 
streets of Barbados' capital. The first impression 
is of a blinding glare, for the streets are of white 
coral limestone, many of the buildings are as white 
as if built of snow and the pink, yellow, fawn, and 
pale blue tints of others do little to relieve the 
blast of light, which seems to rise up and strike one 
with the force of an actual blow. Along this scin- 
tillating roadway burly negroes are wheeling great 
hogsheads of molasses and cases of rum on two- 
wheeled "spiders"; half -naked stevedores are 
toiling like galley slaves at loading and unloading 
dozens of sloops and schooners; winches creak and 
groan; tackle-blocks rattle; steam derricks roar; 



104 THE WEST INDIES 

drays and carts rattle and rumble; raucous shouts 
and cries fill the white-hot air, and one seems to 
have stepped into a pandemonium peopled by 
denizens of Hades who have brought their own 
atmosphere with them. 

Close at hand is a tiny, triangular park sur- 
rounded by trees and in the welcome, if meager, 
shade stand public cabs and motor cars, their black 
drivers snoring on their seats and the horses half- 
heartedly munching the Guinea grass spread before 
them on the pavement. Here too are women 
vending sugar cane, fruits, bread, and sweetmeats; 
here loll a few unemployed blacks, and here are 
gathered dozens of tiny donkey carts with the 
patient little beasts dozing in the shafts and with 
long ears occasionally flopping in mild expostu- 
lation at troublesome flies. 

To Barbados donkeys are of vast importance 
and nearly all the transportation of the island 
depends upon them. One meets them everywhere ; 
in the busy, traffic-congested city streets; on sun- 
baked country roads between tossing, rustling 
seas of cane ; in the fields and by the sea. It makes 
little difference what is to be moved, be it grand 
piano, a load of grass or cane, a wedding party or 
a coffin, the omnipresent donkey cart provides the 
means and, aside from occasional lumbering ox 
carts or mule-drawn drays, one seldom sees any 
other freight vehicles on Barbados' roads. 



BARBADOS 105 

On the farther side of the little tree-shaded 
triangle stands the Nelson monument, a well- 
executed, but by no means impressive tribute to 
England's greatest naval hero, and from this spot, 
known as Trafalgar Square, the various tramcars 
start forth on their journeys to outlying districts 
of the town. The Barbados tramcar is a unique 
and interesting institution. Mule-drawn, capable 
of seating a dozen or so passengers, the diminutive 
cars apparently fulfill all of Barbados' needs to the 
satisfaction of the islanders, for they have been in 
use for years and, despite frequent promises, the 
electric tram line seems as visionary as ever. Far 
more attractive than Trafalgar Square is the great 
embowered courtyard of the post office and munici- 
pal buildings opposite. It appears more like a 
medieval fortress than a place devoted to peaceful 
business, however, for antique cannon stand at the 
gateways in the massive iron fence, the outer 
windows are grim and barred, and uniformed 
sentries pace to and fro. Diagonally across the 
street is another little park, a charming place of 
flowers and palms and with a huge, sleepily tinkling 
fountain in its center. A few blocks away is 
Queen's Park, a well-kept, beautiful public garden 
filled with tropic shrubs, trees, palms, and flowers, 
green lawns and fountains, but patronized only 
when the band plays there of an afternoon. 

Little else of interest is to be seen within the 



io6 THE WEST INDIES 

confines of the town. There are many large, but 
not impressive, buildings, but the bulk of the 
town is made up of low, two-story structures and 
narrow, congested, busy streets, for an immense 
amount of business is transacted here; the stores 
are innumerable and well stocked, and there is 
little to be had in New York or London that 
cannot be found in Barbados' capital. 

But with all due respect to Bridgetown it is 
palpitatingly, unbearably hot and trying on the 
eyes, and if one must see the town or patronize its 
shops, by all means select the early morning hours 
for the undertaking. 

Outside of the city, however, there are delightful 
spots, charming residential sections, tree-shaded 
roads, and a climate delightful with the cool breath 
of the trade wind. Belleville, with its pretty 
villas and avenues of royal palms, is most attrac- 
tive, but the suburb known as Hastings is even 
more desirable. Here one is ever close to the 
wonderfully tinted sea and its snowy beaches. 
Beautiful gardens and spacious grounds surround 
the wayside residences and the immense parade 
ground affords a wonderful opportunity for out-of- 
door life and sports, such as horseracing, tennis, 
polo, cricket, etc. Opposite the race course are the 
massive old barracks, and a short distance beyond 
are the Hastings Rocks with the charming seaside 
park where band concerts are given, and with the 



BARBADOS 107 

big Balmoral and Marine Hotels, and innumerable 
smaller hostel ries, boarding-houses, and furnished 
cottages for rent, all close at hand. Here too is 
the bathing par excellence, and bathing in Bar- 
bados is perhaps the island's greatest attraction. 

But Bridgetown and its environs are not Bar- 
bados by any means. The low, monotonous west- 
ern coast is as different from the rugged, lofty 
"Scotland" district of the windward coast as if on 
a separate island, and throughout the interior are 
places of interest, beauty, and attractiveness. 

When one has seen the whole of Barbados, has 
learned its charms, has bathed in its tepid waters, 
has become acquainted with its people, and has 
partaken of their unbounded hospitality, then, 
indeed, can one realize why the 'Badians love their 
home above all other spots, why they have nick- 
named it "Little England" and why the "Bims," 
as they are sometimes called, vow that no place 
in all the world can compare with their "tight 
little, right little island. " 

Everywhere on Barbados stretch perfect roads, 
like broad white ribbons across hills and dales of 
green, and, for those who prefer a railway journey 
to an automobile drive, there is the "Barbados 
Light Railway," a fascinatingly toylike railroad 
that carries one leisurely from Bridgetown to 
Bathsheba across the island with frequent stops 
at plantations and tiny hamlets. Well and most 



io8 THE WEST INDIES 

appropriately named is this railroad, for every- 
thing about it is "light. " The engineer, standing 
beside his "iron steed," appears a veritable giant, 
the cars, or rather "coaches," might serve for 
children's play-houses; the traffic is light and the 
train crews seem to consider their "runs" in the 
light of picnics rather than as serious affairs. But 
the strange little road has distinct advantages, even 
if its express trains seldom exceed fifteen miles an 
hour. Grades are of no importance and the road 
rambles up and down hill in a most casual manner, 
the puffing little locomotive struggling laboriously 
up each rise, to give a triumphant snort and coast 
blithely down the slope beyond. In case the train 
is derailed, as not infrequently happens, train- 
men and passengers soon lift it bodily on to the 
"irons" once more and resume their interrupted 
journey as a matter of course. Often, at some 
open, shed-like station, a colored lad rushes breath- 
lessly up and informs the conductor that passen- 
gers are coming, and the train obligingly waits for 
their arrival. Then handshakings and good-byes 
.are in order, the passengers clamber leisurely into 
the cars, the conductor catches sight of some 
friend and joins him in the shadow of the station 
for a last word of gossip and a parting drink. The 
train at last crawls away, only to stop and back 
deliberately into the station again to accommodate 
some delayed friends of the passengers who are 



BARBADOS 109 

anxious to give them a last message or commission 
to friends or shops in town. To the stranger, 
anxious to make use of each fleeting moment of his 
time, the Barbados railway is vexatious in the 
extreme, but it can't be hurried and one may ob- 
tain a far better idea of the island during the train's 
snail-like progress from coast to coast than if it 
tore across country like our own expresses. 

But if you are wise you will see Barbados from a 
motor car and traverse its length and breadth by 
highway, for the greater part of the railroad lies 
through the most uninteresting of the island's 
scenery. 

That time-worn adage, "As the twig is bent so 
the tree is inclined," is admirably illustrated and its 
truth convincingly demonstrated in Barbados, for 
nearly every tree upon the island is inclined ex- 
actly as its first tender twigs were bent. Along the 
white coral beaches long rows of cocoa palms edge 
the surf, their lank trunks twisted and contorted in 
a myriad of forms, but each and every one bent 
in the same general direction. About plantation 
houses and sugar mills, or standing in little knots 
or copses on the hillsides, the mahogany trees 
crouch one-sidedly, all with heads turned, like 
green-clad hosts whose shoulders are bowed by 
unseen burdens. Beside the glaring roads the 
mile-long rows of majestic rotal palms raise their 
heights, like granite monoliths crowned with 



no THE WEST INDIES 

emerald plumes, and ever their feathery banners 
stream towards the setting sun. Lowliest shrub, 
stoutest tree, or loftiest palm yields to the cease- 
less, life-giving trade wind that sweeps, day after 
day, year after year, from the broad Atlantic and 
transforms the broad acres of ribbon-leaved cane 
into restless, billowy, undulating seas of tender 
green. And to the trade wind, that forces all 
growing things to bend ever towards the west, 
Barbados owes its wonderfully perfect climate, for 
despite the blazing tropic sun, the blinding roads 
and the woeful lack of shade, Barbados, outside of 
the town, is seldom uncomfortably warm, never 
prostratingly humid, and ever with the healthy 
tang of the salt sea in the air. 

Everywhere, as one drives through Barbados, 
and more conspicuous than all else upon the land- 
scape, are the windmills; great stone and wooden 
towers whose motionless arms stand, like gaunt 
crosses, against the fathomless blue sky, or revolve, 
slowly, indolently, impressively, like giants aware 
of their power and exerting but a tithe of their 
strength to crush the gold and purple cane within 
their vitals and set free the wealth of cloying juice 
upon which the island depends for existence. 
Here and there the towers stand stark, forlorn, and 
helpless, like derelict ships bereft of sails, for the 
wind, which served so well the planter barons of 
old, is inadequate for present-day needs, and many 




A BARBADOS ROAD 




BARBADOS LANDSCAPE 



BARBADOS in 

a huge steam mill obtrudes its unlovely, prosaic 
chimneys, with smoke-blackened summits over- 
topping even the tallest royal palms. 

But everything must give way to utility and 
revenue in aland as densely inhabited as Barbados, 
and the wonder is that any spots of virgin beauty 
remain unspoiled by cultivation or habitations. 
Strange as it may seem there is yet a stretch of the 
original forest growth in Barbados, an area known 
as St. John's Wood, in the Scotland district near 
the eastern coast and, stranger yet, troops of wild 
monkeys, opossums, and parrots make this spot 
their home and play havoc with the garden truck 
of nearby estates. High, rugged, and bold is this 
windward coast, with great cliffs rising abruptly 
from beating Atlantic surges, with strange fantas- 
tic pinnacles and grotesque rock forms hewn by the 
winds and waves of countless ages from the solid 
limestone, with smooth sand beaches hemmed in 
by jagged reefs, with grassy flower-starred upland 
downs and brush-filled gullies. Well was it 
named Scotland and, to make the resemblance 
still more striking, upon the summit of a wind- 
swept cliff there stands a little church which, save 
for the palms and Bougainvillea about it, might 
well be some highland kirk. This is old St. 
John's church and in its quaint old-world grave- 
yard, on the brink of the precipice, lies the last of 
the Christian Kings of Greece, one Ferdinando 



112 THE WEST INDIES 

Paleologus, who, exiled from his native land, 
settled down in Little England and, as stated on 
his tombstone, was a churchwarden of the parish 
from 1655-66 and a vestryman for twenty years. 
He died on October 3, 1678, to rest for ever in this 
old churchyard of his adopted land. 

In this Scotland district is the highest land in 
Barbados, Mount Hillaby, with its summit 1 104 
feet above the breaking surf and affording the 
finest view in the island. In this district also are 
the petroleum and Manjak deposits, the former of 
little or no value, the latter having been worked 
sporadically for many years. Near at hand also 
are the clay beds and potteries, from which come 
the water jars and other earthenware utensils 
which are sold in Bridgetown and are in universal 
use throughout the island. 

But aside from its lovely views, its exhilarating 
breezes and its wild, wave-beaten coast, there are 
few interests or attractions in this portion of 
Barbados, and a short visit will suffice. 

Everywhere in Barbados the long, uninterrupted 
rule of Britain is in evidence. There is none of the 
cosmopolitan or polyglot in speech, manners, cus- 
toms, race, or architecture, which is so typical of 
the other islands; no hint of French, Dutch, or 
Spanish occupancy, for the island has been strictly 
English from the date of its first settlement in 
1625 and many of its buildings and its churches 



BARBADOS 113 

seem transported bodily from the mother country. 
Such is Codrington College, a West Indian Oxford 
established in 17 10 and connected with Durham 
College in England. Built in the heavy style of 
the Georgian period, within a grove of mahogany 
trees, and with its typically English students 
playing cricket on the "pitch," this two-century- 
old college seems strangely out of place and the 
visitor can scarce believe he is still within the 
tropics. So too, Farley Hall, about fifteen miles 
from Bridgetown, is a solid, dignified old British 
mansion, once the residence of Sir Graham Briggs, 
a West Indian baronet, and worthy of a visit on 
account of the art treasures it contains and the 
scenery en route. 

Gun Hill, about six miles from the capital, is 
another spot which should be visited, for its sum- 
mit offers a superb view of the greater part of the 
island, and half-way up its slopes is a gigantic 
stone lion carved from the solid rock by a Major 
Wilkinson who was stationed here when the hill 
was garrisoned. It has been likened to the Lion 
of Lucerne, but one must possess a most vivid 
imagination to see the resemblance, for the Bar- 
bados effigy appears as if afflicted with elephantia- 
sis and reminds one more of a peevish kitten 
playing with a catnip ball, than of the majestic 
British lion holding the world beneath its paw. 
Allowances must be made for the amateurish skill 



114 THE WEST INDIES 

of its creator and the medium he had at his com- 
mand, however, and, considering this, it was no 
mean achievement to have chipped away the cliff 
to leave the massive stone monument standing 
forth above the greenery of the hillside. 

Looking down upon the widespread cane fields 
from such a spot as Gun Hill one searches in vain 
for a hint of sparkling lake or glistening stream, and 
then it dawns suddenly upon the stranger, that 
nowhere on the island has pond, brook, or river 
been seen. The fact is, there are no streams in 
Barbados, or at least not in sight, for the island's 
rivers flow underground through subterranean 
caverns to the sea. 

From these Bridgetown obtains its ample and 
pure water supply and over one hundred miles of 
pipes carry the water from the unseen, unsuspected 
rivers to the towns. Near Gun Hill one may 
descend to one of the sources of this unique water 
system. This spot, known as Cole's Cave, is a 
deep wooded ravine from which leads an enormous 
cavern of unknown extent and through which 
flows a Stygian river which never sees the sun. 
Hung with stalactites, wonderful with strange 
festoons and veil-like drapery of creamy, translu- 
cent dripstone, this cavern might be made one of 
Barbados' greatest attractions, but it has never 
been completely explored, although known to 
extend many miles, and there are innumera- 



BARBADOS 115 

ble other caves fully as large and even less 
known. 

Indeed, much of Barbados is honeycombed with 
caverns, some of which may rival Mammoth Cave 
or the Luray Caverns in size and beauty, and yet 
no one has ever seen fit to investigate or exploit 
them. 

Perchance, as you drive about the island, espe- 
cially on the windward coast, your attention may 
be attracted to dejected, listless, ragged men 
and women who labor half-heartedly in their tiny 
garden plots, or loll about the doors of their hovels, 
and who would be passed by without a second 
glance, were it not for the fact that their light hair 
and fair skins give no hint of negro blood. It 
seems strange indeed to find whites on a social 
plane with the lowliest negroes in the West Indies, 
and the question at once arises as to who these 
people are, what their race, and why they are in 
such straits. Their story is a sad one, their his- 
tory almost incredible, and their present plight 
pitiable. The fact is they are white, — untainted 
by negro blood, — the lowest, most worthless, most 
poverty-stricken of Barbadians, known locally as 
"Red Legs," and despised by both negroes and the 
well-to-do whites, for incredible as it may seem, 
their ancestors were slaves. Victims of the bloody 
days of Cromwell's time hundreds of captive Irish, 
Scotch, and English men and women were piled in 



n6 THE WEST INDIES 

the noisome, stinking holds of convict ships and 
transported to Barbados, where, for the price of 
1500 pounds of sugar per head, the survivors of the 
awful voyage were sold as slaves to the planters. 
In the islands were sympathizers of both the war- 
ring factions in England and, no doubt, many of 
the unfortunate ' ' Red Legs ' ' (so called as they were 
wearers of kilts with bare knees) fell into kindly 
hands, for many of them rose to affluence as plant- 
ers, but the lot of others was pitiful. Branded 
and mutilated like cattle, they were treated with 
far less humanity and more brutality than their 
African fellows and, unable to withstand the hard 
field labors beneath the blistering tropic sun, they 
succumbed rapidly. But many survived and, 
after being freed from bondage, lived on, degraded, 
hopeless, spineless creatures, but ever maintaining 
their purity of race and retaining the good old 
family names of their ancestors. Two hundred 
years and more have passed, since white slaves 
were held in Barbados, and yet, to this day, the 
"Red Legs" remain, living examples of a disgrace- 
ful episode in Britain's history and a blotch upon 
her escutcheon. 

And speaking of Barbados' past, perhaps no 
event is of greater interest — to Americans at least 
— than the visit paid to the island by George 
Washington. This happened in the winter of 
1751-52, when Washington was a major in the 



BARBADOS 117 

British Colonial army, and, for the sake of his 
brother's health, he made his first and only ocean 
voyage. Lawrence Washington was a victim of 
tuberculosis and Barbados' fame as a health resort 
led the brothers to seek the island's shores in the 
vain hope of curing the dread disease. While on 
the island our future first president contracted a 
mild case of smallpox which confined him to his 
bed from November 17, 1751 — only two weeks 
after his arrival — until December 12th. As he 
sailed for home on December 226., he had barely 
three weeks to devote to seeing the island, but he . 
and his brother were royally entertained during 
their brief stay in Barbados and great hospitality 
was shown them, — especially by the British army 
and navy officers, for Lawrence had won fame in 
the battles of Carthagena and the Spanish Main. 
Just where the two brothers dwelt, while in Bar- 
bados, seems uncertain, but, judging by the de- 
scription in George Washington's journal, it was 
in the vicinity of Hastings and close to the sea. 

Another illustrious visitor to Barbados' shores 
was the one-armed idol of the British navy, — 
Admiral Lord Nelson. But the hero of Trafalgar 
was in "Little England" by necessity and not by 
choice and he chafed and fretted constantly. In 
fact he was wont to speak of the island as the 
"Barbarous" instead of Barbados, for, gallant 
sea-fighter as he was, he had been boarded and 



u8 THE WEST INDIES 

conquered by one against whom all his fleet and 
guns were powerless, — the pirate Cupid, — and his 
heart was held for ransom by the widow Nisbet 
in distant Nevis. 

But as a whole Barbados' history is most unin- 
teresting and commonplace, for what struggles 
there were took place between men of one race. 
Foreign foe has never invaded the island and, save 
for the bitter quarrels between Jamestown and 
Holetown men in the early days, occasional negro 
uprisings, and a hurricane now and then, there has 
been little of the stirring times which add so much 
of interest and romance to the other islands. But 
there is one date which will ever live in the annals 
of Barbados, — the day when the sun stood still. 
It was in 1812, that on a Sunday morning in May, 
the Barbadians awoke to find no sun rising above 
the eastern sea, but instead, the darkness of mid- 
night overspread ocean and land. At first dumb- 
founded, then terror-stricken, the people gathered 
in knots and groups, shivering as with cold, cower- 
ing together for protection from some unknown 
awful doom, whining, weeping, wailing, praying, 
for, to their minds, the end of the world had 
come. 

And, to add to their overwhelming terror, a fine, 
impalpable, unseen something filled the black 
air, choking, blinding, sifting through every crack 
and crevice and even through garments, and 



BARBADOS 119 

covering houses, streets, lands, trees, people, 
everything, with a thick, deadening, silencing 
shroud. 

As the day wore on and still no glimmer of light 
broke through the awful blackness, overwrought 
nerves gave way, superstitious negroes went rav- 
ing mad, and, for hour after hour, the sounds of 
human misery, a babel of lamentations, the shouts 
of exhorting preachers, the fretful cries of chil- 
dren, the incoherent babbling of those driven in- 
sane by the awful strain, were the only sounds 
that rent the all-pervading, suffocating pall of 
black. 

The hour of noon passed and still inky darkness 
wrapped Barbados in its folds until, at last, in the 
early afternoon, a spot of light showed in the west. 
Rapidly it grew and, ere sundown, the clear, bright, 
blessed sunlight streamed over land and sea, and 
marvelous was the scene revealed to the still 
trembling, wondering Barbadians. 

No sign of green, no hint of color, no gleam of 
white road was visible. From highest hilltop to 
whispering surf, all was one uniform expanse of 
ashen gray. Not until a sailing vessel cast anchor 
in Carlisle Bay and brought the news of the awful 
eruption of St. Vincent's Soufriere did the Bar- 
badians know the cause of the terrifying phe- 
nomenon. Marvelous as it may seem, the force 
of the volcano's outburst had hurled hundreds 



120 



THE WEST INDIES 



of thousands of tons of dust directly against the 
full force of the trade wind, to darken the sky, blot 
out the sun, and fall upon Barbados one hundred 
miles distant. 







CHAPTER XI 

ST. VINCENT, A NEGLECTED EDEN 

Terrific as was the eruption, widespread as was 
the destruction, and great as was the loss of life 
during Soufriere's outburst in 1812, it was insig- 
nificant as compared to that of 1902. Coincident 
with the eruption of Mount Pelee in Martinique, 
St. Vincent's Soufriere awoke from its ninety-year 
sleep and with redoubled fury devastated over 
one third of the island and wiped out over two 
thousand lives. Great estates were buried scores 
of feet beneath seas of red-hot mud; vast forests 
were utterly destroyed; whole mountaintops were 
blown into space; broad roaring rivers were turned 
to steam in an instant and their beds left dry and 
bare; houses, mills, and towns, with all their in- 
habitants, were overwhelmed with ashes, mud, and 
laval bombs; fires lit the black chaos with their 
awful glare, and the ground rocked, shook, and 
swayed to the deafening detonations and earth- 
quake shocks. The land, in places, sank; the 
sea broke in tumultuous waves against shores that 
had been mountainsides, and the ocean swept 

121 



122 THE WEST INDIES 

above villages forty feet beneath its storm-lashed 
surface. 

To-day, as one sails past the northern shores 
of St. Vincent, one looks upon a waste scarce 
less gray and barren than when the volcano had 
exhausted its infernal wrath fourteen years 
ago. 

Here and there, bushes, vines, and shrubs have 
struggled upward through the mud and cinders and 
have done their best to hide the dead, mutilated, 
ghastly land. A few trees, whose life was not 
quite extinguished, have again donned robes of 
green, but everywhere stand the gaunt, naked 
skeletons of once luxuriant forests, the blackened, 
deserted wrecks of mills, and the yawning chasms, 
washed by the rains of years, in the caked black 
mud that overwhelmed hill and valley, field and 
forest. 

But it is only a question of time ere the jungle 
will come again into its own, ere nature will clothe 
the forbidding waste with a mantle of verdure, ere 
well-tilled gardens and cultivated fields will take 
the place of cinder-beds and mud-flows, ere moun- 
tain streams will tumble through long-forgotten, 
mud-choked courses to the sea. Then man, for- 
getful of the past, unmindful of the lesson taught, 
will once more dwell above this vast graveyard 
of his fellows, will rebuild mills, houses, villages, 
above the ruins of those destroyed, to meet, per- 



ST. VINCENT 123 

haps, the same fate as those who lie forever buried 
under countless tons of ashes and of mud. 

It is indeed a pleasant change from the sad, 
corpse-like northern district to the serene, green, 
luxuriant mountainsides, the smiling valleys, and 
the palm-fringed shores beyond the area of destruc- 
tion. Few islands are lovelier than St. Vincent, 
but where there is such a plethora of beauty it is 
difficult to make comparisons and, where nature 
has been so lavish as in the Antilles, words become 
inadequate. Every island is distinct from its 
fellows, each has attractions, charms, an individ- 
uality, all its own, and yet 'tis impossible, by mere 
description, to visualize their differences or do 
justice to their wondrous scenery. 

We may say they are rugged, mountainous, 
marvelous with color; richly luxuriant, fascinat- 
ingly tropical, glowingly beautiful; but these 
terms apply with equal truth to them all. Only by 
seeing them, by knowing them, can one realize 
how pitiful are all attempts to picture them on 
paper, to convey even a remote idea of their 
appearance to those unfortunates who have never 
gazed across the blue waters of the Caribbean 
upon these island gems. 

Guadeloupe is stupendous in its bulk, frowning 
and gloomy; Dominica is sublime in its wild un- 
touched forests, its awful precipices, and its mile- 
high mountains; Martinique is queenly in it? 



124 THE WEST INDIES 

dignified, cloud-crowned mountains and its vast 
fair valleys; but St. Vincent appears as if some 
master hand had selected the best and most beauti- 
ful portions of all these and had combined them 
with consummate skill to form a perfect whole. 

It is not so lofty as its northern sisters, — the 
highest peak, Morne Agarou, rising to a bare 
four thousand feet, — and it is not so large, — only 
eighteen miles in length by eleven miles wide, — 
but within its area is an array of mountains, valleys, 
hills, and plains such as would be a credit to a 
good-sized continent. 

Of all the islands of any size or importance St. 
Vincent is the only one which cannot be reached 
by direct steamers from New York, a curious situa- 
tion brought about by competition and jealousy, 
for in the shuffle by which the various islands were 
allotted to the rival companies St. Vincent was left 
out in the cold. Fearing to make it a port of call 
for dread of the others retaliating and infringing 
on their monopoly of other islands, each line 
avoids St. Vincent as though 'twere plague-ridden 
and, as a result, the island stands isolated, — a 
neglected Eden, — only in touch with the outside 
world through small boats and the intercolonial 
steamers. 

But, despite this, St. Vincent holds much of 
interest ; scenery of indescribable beauty abounds, 
and the climate is both healthy and delightful. 



ST. VINCENT 125 

Kingstown is the capital, — the inhabitants are 
most punctilious as to the "w" in the name, — and 
a pretty, well-kept, tidy little town it is, in a setting 
unsurpassed. To the north rises a frowning 
headland, capped by a crumbling age-gray fort; 
in the background, soft cultivated valleys and 
verdured hills stretch back in a vast green amphi- 
theater to the blue and misty mountains, and 
above the lazy surf, that breaks upon a sandy 
crescent beach, stands the red-roofed town, shim- 
mering like burnished metal in the sun. Pic- 
turesque, quaint, fascinating as it is, yet there is 
little of real interest in Kingstown itself, but all 
about are splendid roads through the loveliest of 
scenes, and within a mile of the town is the famous 
Botanic Garden, established in 1763 and the first 
of its kind in America. 

Well may this garden be called the cradle of 
tropical agriculture in the New World, for here, 
for the first time, were introduced and grown the 
fruits, vegetables, spices, and other tropical plants 
which to-day form the principal products of the 
West Indies and much of the two Americas in 
addition. 

To this garden in St. Vincent, Captain Bligh of 
the Bounty brought the first bread-fruit plants 
from the South Pacific. It was here that nutmegs 
and cloves were first introduced to America and, 
despite the larger and more ambitious gardens of 



126 THE WEST INDIES 

Dominica, Trinidad, and other places, St. Vincent's 
garden still leads them all in the variety and per- 
fection of its flora, in its beauty, and, most of all, 
in the important part it has played in the develop- 
ment of tropical agriculture. 

If one wishes to visit the ruined district in the 
vicinity of Soufriere, a boat may be taken from 
Kingstown to Chateau Belaire, where guides may 
be obtained. But there is little to see: it is a dis- 
mal, depressing scene, and it is much more enjoy- 
able to while away one's time by driving through 
the country about Kingstown, visiting the numer- 
ous estates, or exploring the half-ruined forts 

To-day they are used only as signal stations; the 
ancient cannons stare mute and rust-covered from 
the vine-choked embrasures, and weeds, grass, and 
starry-flowered portulaca carpet the worn stone 
flagging. But many a fierce and bloody struggle 
have the old forts seen; the silent guns have oft 
belched forth their messages of death across the 
sparkling azure sea; the flagging has run red with 
human blood, and the narrow sallyports have been 
heaped high and blocked with corpses of the slain. 
Upon these heights Briton and Gaul have fought, 
and won, and lost, and fallen. Above the battle- 
ments have fluttered the lilies of France and the 
cross of St. George in turn, and for a space no 
banner snapped in the breeze from the lofty staff, 
neither British nor French held the fortress and 



ST. VINCENT 127 

manned the guns. In place of uniformed soldiery 
a horde of naked savages swarmed upon the heights, 
fierce Carib warriors, who, striving desperately 
to win back their usurped land, were, for the 
moment, victors in the hopeless struggle. 

Not until four thousand disciplined troops took 
the field, not until many lives were sacrificed on 
both sides, not until the green verdure of the hill 
was crimsoned with blood, were the Indians driven 
from the stronghold they had captured. And, 
even then, they were unconquered. Though their 
chief was gibbeted, though hundreds of the tribe 
were sent in exile to Honduras, yet the remnant 
of the indomitable yellow-skinned aborigines re- 
fused to surrender to Abercromby and took to 
their mountain forests. Here, defying the mighty 
power of Britain, they lived, harassing the settlers 
at every chance, making bloody forays on outlying 
estates, towns, and villages, until, at last, England 
was glad to sue for peace and signed a treaty with 
her savage foes, by which they were given per- 
petual ownership of 230 acres near Morne Rodonde. 
Here the last of the St. Vincent Caribs settled 
down and, laying aside the weapons of war, busied 
themselves in cultivating their gardens, weaving 
baskets, and fishing in the neighboring sea. But the 
doom of the Caribs, as a race, was sealed; it was 
the same old story of the red and white. Slowly, 
but surely, the original owners of the island died 



128 



THE WEST INDIES 



out, negro blood was mixed with that of the once 
proud Indians, and nature itself seemed to con- 
spire against them. The full force of the eruption 
of 1902 fell upon the Carib country, only a handful 
survived that awful holocaust, none of pure blood 
remained, and the pitiful remnant of the once 
great tribe became homeless, landless paupers, 
dependent upon the bounty of the government 
their forefathers warred with for so long. 





ST. GEORGE, GRENADA 




STREET IN ST. GEORGE, GRENADA 




CHAPTER XII 

GRENADA, THE ISLE OF SPICE 

Southward from St. Vincent stretch the Grena- 
dines, — like beads of jade upon an invisible string, 
— to fair Grenada, an emerald pyramid looming 
against the sky. 

Beautiful are the Grenadines, the tips of sub- 
merged mountain peaks, some sandy, low, and 
palm-covered, others high, rugged, and forested, 
some wild and uninhabited, others populated, 
cultivated, and prosperous, but none of great in- 
terest or of sufficient importance to draw steam- 
ships to their harbors. 

Last of the Caribbees is Grenada, a superbly 
beautiful and fitting pendant jewel to the chain 
of island gems. Lofty it is and mountainous, a 
land so sharply defined, so clearly cut, that it 
seems hewn bodily from some monstrous crystal 
of green. 

Very different is Grenada from all the other 

islands, and unlike any other town in all the West 

Indies is its capital. Along the shore one sees the 

clustering buildings, from the greenery of the hill- 

9 129 



130 THE WEST INDIES 

side above peep red roofs, and at the summit of 
the rise a church tower stands outlined against the 
verdure, while to the right a squat old fort crowns 
the grassy headland. Nothing unusual about it, 
you may think, and you wonder why the steamer's 
speed is not slackened, why no vessels swing at 
anchor off the town, why no clustering shore 
boats are putting forth. Even as such thoughts 
cross your mind the vessel's course is changed, the 
ship bears towards the fort, and heads directly for 
the wooded heights beyond. Close beneath the 
old gray walls of the fortress on the cliff we pass, 
and then a cry of surprise and delight escapes our 
lips, for beyond the fort — hidden from the open 
sea and nestling among the hills — lies a land- 
locked, circular bay of purest blue, and, spreading 
fanwise from its shores, is St. George. 

Upward from the neat stone docks that edge this 
snug harbor sweep the steep hillsides, and up 
their slopes clambers the town, rows of red-tiled 
roofs gleaming in the sun one above the other, 
nodding palms and flowering trees between them, 
and with sharply inclined, narrow thoroughfares 
dividing the step-like brick buildings. Tier after 
tier upward to the summit of the ridge and down 
the farther side the town extends, and far up the 
mountainside houses peep from the rich green 
verdure. 

To the left the town ends at the ancient fort, 



GRENADA, THE ISLE OF SPICE 131 

to the right it loses itself 'mid palms and foliage, — 
the oddest, prettiest, quaintest town in the Antilles. 
So narrow is the tiny haven that when the great 
ship drops anchor her stern is moored to land and 
so close to the street that one might almost leap 
ashore, and lying thus the steamer all but bars 
the harbor entrance. And a wonderful harbor it is, 
too, for where now is tranquil water was once a 
sea of molten lava, and above the encircling hills 
poured fire, smoke, and cinders, for Grenada's 
harbor is but the crater of an extinct volcano, and 
no man can say that it may not yet burst forth and 
blow the town and all its people into atoms. Even 
within historic times great changes have taken 
place in St. George's crater harbor. In 1705, 
when Abbe Labat visited Grenada, a fort and 
many buildings stood upon a strip of land pro- 
jecting from the eastern side of the harbor, and 
across the mouth of a lake which is now a lagoon, 
and, close alongside, was excellent anchorage for the 
largest ships of the time. The old maps show that 
this was so, records prove it, and yet, to-day, land, 
fort, buildings have disappeared completely, the 
shore ends in an abrupt cliff, a coral reef marks 
the site of the old town of Port Louis, and where 
the big bluff-bowed ships once swung to their 
moorings there are now scarce three feet of water. 
Of the convulsion which took place and destroyed 
the original settlement with its fort and buildings 



i 3 2 THE WEST INDIES 

there is no record, for, if any were ever made, they 
were doubtless lost or destroyed during one of the 
disastrous fires, in one of the many struggles 
between the French and British, or else were re- 
moved to Martinique, together with all other 
papers and documents prior to 1763, when 
Grenada was surrendered to the British, 

But in more recent times, on November 18, 1867, 
to be exact, the subterranean forces again reminded 
the Grenadans that their charming harbor fills the 
crater of a volcano. Between 5 and 5 : 20 o'clock 
on the afternoon of that date, the calm and placid 
waters of 'the harbor suddenly receded for a dis- 
tance of five feet or more and fully exposing the 
coral reef at the mouth of the lagoon. With a 
rumbling noise, the water over a deep area known 
as the "Green Hole" commenced to boil, and sul- 
phurous vapors poured from it, and then, as if 
lifted from beneath, the entire harbor rose and 
rushed towards the shore, flooding the lower streets 
and docks to a depth of four or five feet. Once, 
twice, thrice, four times, the waters fell until the 
bottom of the bay was bare in many places, and 
each time it again rose like a wall above the docks, 
swamping and wrecking boats, stranding vessels, 
and undermining buildings, but fortunately with 
no loss of life. 

And when at last the harbor resumed its normal 
tranquil state the people found that the Green 



GRENADA, THE ISLE OF SPICE 133 

Hole had been filled up, reefs had risen from the 
depths, the shores had been altered, and former 
shallows had become deep water. Two severe 
earthquakes followed the outburst, like the last 
convulsive twitchings of the dying volcanic forces 
beneath the sea, and then the inhabitants again 
forgot the dangers that lurked beneath the harbor 
and resumed the even tenor of their lives. 

The chances are that no serious outbreak will 
ever occur, that generations of Grenadans will 
live and die in peace and undisturbed by the 
slumbering volcanic forces 'neath the island, for 
there are no active craters on Grenada and no 
symptoms of activity were manifested during the 
eruption of St. Vincent less than seventy miles 
distant. 

Aside from its quaint picturesqueness, there is 
little enough to be seen in St. George. The 
streets, save along the water-front, are so 
precipitous as to be actually forbidding, and in 
many places they are so perpendicular that they 
are constructed in the form of steps. The larger 
part of the town and most of the business section 
lie beyond the ridge-topped peninsula, and to 
make intercourse between the two sides of the 
hill less arduous a tunnel has been drilled through 
from side to side. This tunnel, known as the 
Sendall Tunnel, in honor of Gov. Sir Walter Sendall 
under whose administration it was constructed, 



134 THE WEST INDIES 

was not completed until 1895, although the first 
blast was exploded by Lady Sendall on Nov. 21, 
1889. It must have proved an immense relief to 
the Grenadans, who were previously compelled to 
toil up one steep slope and down another to go 
from place to place in St. George, but the natives 
seem to give little heed to the roof -like character 
of their town and trip blithely up their toboggan- 
slide highways rather than take the trouble to go 
out of their way and use the tunnel. Indeed, after 
a short stay in St. George, the visitor is convinced 
that, through generations, the Grenadans must 
have developed superhuman, goat-like proclivities 
for climbing. 

But the stranger will be wise if he refrains from 
attempting to emulate them and avails himself, 
or herself, of one of the public carriages or motor 
cars which may be hired, for, impossible as it seems 
at first sight, carriages and automobiles travel 
here, there, and everywhere in the town, — only 
balking at the flights of steps. 

There are numerous stores in the town, one so- 
called hotel, two clubs, a public library and reading 
room, an interesting market, and several fine old 
churches, as well as a botanic station across the 
harbor, and the Queen's Park. Eut the most 
interesting structure in St. George is old Fort 
George upon its promontory. A finely preserved, 
stout old pile it is and its massive walls show little 



GRENADA, THE ISLE OF SPICE 135 

effects of the two centuries and more of sun and 
storm, of calm and tempest, of peace and war, 
which have passed since the French owners of 
Grenada first manned its battlements in 1705. 

Standing upon its parapets and looking forth 
upon the sparkling sea on the one hand and across 
the harbor and its encircling amphitheater of hills 
on the other, one marvels that any foe of olden 
days could ever have taken the town thus guarded, 
for the fort's guns commanded sea and shore in 
every direction and any vessel entering the port 
must pass within musket shot of its embrasures. 
No longer is it of any value as a fortress, no invad^ 
ing squadrons of wall-sided, bluff-bowed frigates 
menace the quiet of the island, the one-time 
enemies who struggled and battled for supremacy 
in the Caribbean are fighting side by side against 
a common foe. To-day, the grim old fort has 
fallen to the ignominious estate of a police barracks, 
and its silent, corroded guns serve as playthings for 
laughing children who fill the black muzzles with 
pebbles and flowers and chase the lizards over the 
grass-grown parapets. 

Across the harbor, perched on the summit of a 
hill 750 feet above the sea, are Forts Matthew and 
Frederick, far larger and more powerful than that 
which guards the harbor entrance, and now used 
as prisons and insane asylums. From here one 
may obtain a superbly beautiful view, and the 



136 THE WEST INDIES 

visitor cannot cease to wonder why the convicts 
and idiots of the island are thus favored with the 
finest location on Grenada as their temporary 
residence. 

Back of the town, also, there are forts, four hun- 
dred feet above the harbor, on Hospital Hill, and 
near them the roofs of Government House may 
be seen half-screened by the splendid gardens of 
its grounds. 

Interesting sights may be scarce in Grenada's 
unique capital, but there is plenty to be seen if one 
rides or drives about the island. Everywhere are 
perfect roads, and, although the grades are pro- 
digiously steep in many places, the highways 
are broad, smooth, well kept, and unbelievably 
beautiful as to surroundings. 

At every turn, one looks upon deep rich valleys 
hemmed in by verdured mountain heights and, 
gazing down, — like eagles from their aerie, — we 
see the neat cultivated lands and gleaming build- 
ings of estates, like toy hotises on checkerboards 
of green. Through wonderful vistas of waving 
palms and flower-draped cliffs are glimpses of the 
sparkling sea, stretching like a blue-tile floor to 
the horizon. Flaming poinciana trees spread their 
scarlet-flowered branches above the road, or stand 
boldly forth against the dark foliage of the 
mountainsides, like the glowing coals of giant fires. 
Under sun-dappled arches of bamboo, with feathery 



GRENADA, THE ISLE OF SPICE 137 

branches clashing softly in the breeze half a hun- 
dred feet above our heads, the road leads on. We 
rumble across bridges spanning precipitous ravines, 
with tumbling silvery streams cutting the purple- 
shaded depths a thousand feet beneath. Close 
under the overhanging cliffs the highway creeps, 
where trailing vines and fairy-like ferns are drip- 
ping with seeping moisture, like strings of priceless 
pearls. Ever the way winds past hillsides dark 
with the dense shade of cocoa and ever it passes 
through groves of nutmeg, fruit, and spice trees. 
Beside the highway are neat thatched huts em- 
bowered in palms and flowers and surrounded by 
vegetable gardens, and everywhere are signs of a 
prosperous, contented people, self-respecting, in- 
dependent peasant proprietors who are able to 
make a good livelihood from their own lands. 

But while the wisdom of inducing the natives to 
become self-supporting agriculturists has done 
much to make Grenada a well-cultivated island, 
there is still much of the interior which is wild, 
uncultivated, untouched by hand of man, and a 
visit to the Gran Etang will carry one through 
the primeval high woods of Grenada and amid 
scenery of surpassing grandeur. As the road sur- 
mounts the hills and leaves the lowlands behind, 
the air becomes damp and cool, the great rifts in 
the mountains' flanks are filled with a strange 
green-blue semi-twilight, and the vast silence is 



138 THE WEST INDIES 

broken only by the tinkling splash of an unseen 
waterfall, the soft dripping of moisture from the 
trees, and the far-off music of song birds hidden in 
the dense jungle. 

Skirting the very brinks of dizzying precipices, 
where one may look down a sheer thousand feet 
to a far-away torrent in the dark bottom of the 
defile; hugging towering mountain sides, with 
stupendous forest trees rearing their mighty trunks 
a hundred feet and more above the sopping earth, 
the road winds ever toward the clouds. Great 
tree-ferns droop plume-like fronds above the path- 
way; wild plantain flowers gleam, like tongues of 
flame, in the shadows; wonderful begonias hide 
rotting stumps and jutting boulders with festoons 
of coral pink ; orchids deck the trees, and gorgeous 
humming birds flash in the filtering rays of sun- 
light, like tiny meteors of sapphire, emerald, and 
ruby. For miles one travels through this wonder- 
land where man seems dwarfed to pigmy size, so 
tremendous is the scale on which everything is 
fashioned. The trees tower to unbelievable 
heights ; ferns grow to the size of palms; rank-grow- 
ing plants flaunt leaves, each large enough to 
shelter a horse and rider from the heaviest shower; 
flowers as big as saucers, star beds of moss in 
which the traveler sinks to his knees; and, trailing 
from the tree tops, — encircling the trunks as 
though the forest giants were but bean poles, — are 



GRENADA, THE ISLE OF SPICE 139 

gnarled and twisted vines as huge as ships' cables 
and bearing pea-like pods a yard in length. It 
seems unreal, dreamlike, preposterously magnified, 
as if one were looking at a forest through some 
giant's microscope, and it dawns upon one that 
thus must appear an ordinary wood to the busy 
ants and tiny insects. 

And then, at last, the Gran Etang is reached, 
a little cloud-kissed cairn of liquid silver, gleaming 
amid the wondrous verdure eighteen hundred feet 
above the sea and filling the center of an extinct 
crater some thirty acres in extent. 

Beside it is a rest house, where one may stop 
in comfort if not too firmly bound by conventions, 
and, upon the lake, are skirls which enable visitors 
to paddle about this strange water-filled crater in 
the heart of the primeval wilderness. Cold as a 
bubbling spring is the water, unfathomable in 
depth, fed by tiny streams and the seeping, per- 
petual moisture of drifting clouds, and with no 
outlet to be seen. In the forests round about are 
wild monkeys, agouti, pigeons, and many other 
birds, but there are no venomous snakes, — few of 
any kind in fact, — no dangerous insects, nothing 
to fear, and the visitor, fond of nature wild and 
untrammeled, may well spend days in this out- 
of-the-world spot on Grenada's roof. Here the 
air is cool, fresh, and invigorating, and blankets 
are in order at night, for the temperature, even 



140 THE WEST INDIES 

at midday, rarely rises above 75 and often" falls 
below 6o° after sundown. 

Near at hand is Morne Ferdon, where the French 
and negro insurrectionists intrenched themselves 
in 1795, and in view of the attacking British troops 
fiendishly butchered Lieut.-Governor Home and 
forty-seven white captives. To-day, a memorial 
pillar, marks the scene of the historic atrocity, and 
many a picnic party makes merry on the lofty 
summit, where once the blood-mad horde tortured 
and slew the helpless prisoners. 

But scenes of battle and of bloodshed of past 
centuries are often less interesting than scenes of 
peace and progress of the present, and to many 
visitors to Grenada a trip to a cocoa or nutmeg 
estate will prove far more satisfactory and worth 
while than the pilgrimage to the Gran Etang or to 
Ferdon Heights. There are plenty of such estates 
within easy reach of St. George, and the visitor 
may be sure of a hearty welcome by the owners or 
managers, who will be only too glad to show the 
stranger every step in the interesting process of 
curing both the cocoa and nutmegs. 

Those who have never seen nutmegs, save in the 
dried commercial form in which we use them, 
would never recognize the growing spice. Hang- 
ing from the tips of the glossy-leaved branches of 
the female trees, are salmon-colored fruits much 
like nectarines or apricots in appearance, and as 



GRENADA, THE ISLE OF SPICE 141 

these ripen they split open and expose a shining 
dark brown seed, or stone, covered with a network 
of intense crimson. 

When fully mature the fruits fall to the ground 
and the two halves separate and release the nut- 
megs within. Highly ornamental are the glossy 
nuts with their vivid scarlet, lace-like covering, 
which is the mace of commerce and the most valu- 
able product of the trees. The preparation of the 
nuts is very simple, the mace being carefully 
removed and dried in the sun, when it assumes a 
dull brownish-yellow hue, and the nuts themselves 
being cured in the shade for a few days and then 
in the bright sunlight, after which they are cracked 
open and the internal kernels or real nutmegs are 
removed and packed for shipment. Little goes 
to waste in the preparation of nutmegs, for even 
the pulpy fruit itself is used and in Grenada is 
made into jams and jellies, which are delicious and 
with a sweet, spicy, aromatic flavor very different 
from anything else. 

Much more complicated and more interesting 
is the preparation of cocoa, the most important of 
Grenada's crops. Growing directly from the 
trunks and branches of the trees, the big, roughly 
corrugated purple, red, and yellow pods present a 
very strange appearance, looking, as one visitor 
remarked, "like squashes growing on trees." 
The pods are cut from the trees with knives at the 



142 THE WEST INDIES 

ends of bamboo poles and, as fast as picked, are 
collected in baskets by the women laborers. From 
the baskets they are emptied into huge piles be- 
neath the trees and are opened by men who are 
so expert at the work that eye can scarce follow 
their motions as, with a single blow of a machete, 
the pods are split open and tossed aside. Within 
the pods is a mass of thick, whitish pulp containing 
numerous rounded brown seeds, — the cocoa beans 
of commerce. But with the extraction of the 
messy pulp and its wet seeds the preparation of the 
cocoa has just commenced and many processes 
must be undergone ere the beans are ready for 
market. 

First, the mass of pulp and seeds is dumped into 
boxes with perforated bottoms and over them is 
placed a layer of plaintain or banana leaves. The 
building within which the boxes are placed is 
known as the "Sweating House," and upon the 
care taken in "sweating" the quality of the beans 
largely depends. Within the covered boxes the 
beans are left to ferment for about three days, and 
are then transferred to other boxes and allowed to 
stand two or three days more when, by the fifth 
or sixth day, the slimy pulp will have disappeared 
and the brown color of the seeds will have changed 
to purple. 

The beans are then spread evenly in great drying 
trays, which are arranged to run on rails beneath 



GRENADA, THE ISLE OF SPICE 143 

a roof, for rain is most injurious and the trays 
must be run under cover at the first hint of a 
shower. Here, in the bright sunshine, the beans 
are raked about and shuffled by barefooted laborers 
until thoroughly cured, rubbed, and polished and 
ready to be bagged for shipment. On many of 
the larger and more modern estates the cocoa is 
dried by hot air under cover, while, on the other 
hand, many of the smaller peasant planters cure 
their crops on trays or hides placed upon the 
ground or by the roadsides, and where cows, pigs, 
children, dogs, chickens, and other live stock wander 
and play among them at will. No doubt the visi- 
tor will look with undisguised disgust at the ne- 
groes treading the drying beans in the trays and 
at the miscellaneous assortment of birds and 
beasts nosing and scratching among those of the 
more impecunious peasants, and many a traveler 
has vowed never to partake of cocoa or chocolate 
after viewing such sights. But only the inner 
kernel is used in manufacturing cocoa and choco- 
late, and no one need forego beverage or confection 
for fear of accumulated filth; all that is removed 
with the outer skin or covering which, under the 
name of broma or cocoa-shells, is advertised as the 
most healthy and nourishing portion of the beans ! 



CHAPTER XIII 

TRINIDAD, THE MAGNIFICENT 

A turbid, coffee-colored sea and, to the south, a 
line of jagged soft blue mountains stretching to 
east and west to where they blend and are lost 
in the haze of distance. The one, the muddy 
waters from the mighty Orinoco; the other, the 
coast of South America and Trinidad. 

From a distance the land seems continuous, 
unbroken, but, as the blue indistinct mountains 
resolve into forest-clad slopes, frowning precipices, 
and deep ravines, openings appear between the 
peaks, — narrow straits of water, — the famous 
bocas that connect the Gulf of Paria with the 
open sea. 

To the right are the sierras of Venezuela, mas- 
sive, dark, forbidding ; to the left the mountains of 
Trinidad, richly, gloriously green, and between the 
two, the lofty islands, like Titan's stepping-stones 
from shore to shore. 

It is a strange sensation to pass through the 

bocas for the first time, and few are those who can 

refrain from gazing in wonder at the sight, even 

144 



TRINIDAD, THE MAGNIFICENT 145 

though they have made the passage many times. 
On either hand tower the stupendous cliffs, seamed 
and scarred, worn into uncouth forms and great 
caverns by the restless surges ever dashing about 
them, covered with dense green verdure to their 
summits and peopled by countless sea birds which 
wheel and scream as the passing ship rouses them 
from their wave-washed roosting places. 

Like great walls of red rock and green forest the 
islands rear their heights far above the mastheads, 
seemingly about to topple over on the puny vessel 
as she follows the narrow channel beneath the 
cliffs and so close at hand it seems as though one 
might almost leap ashore. And then the boca 
is passed, the guardian islands of Trinidad's por- 
tals are left behind, and before us stretches the 
tranquil lake-like Gulf of Paria with Trinidad, vast, 
colorful, magnificent, stretching in a thousand hills 
to the southern horizon. 

For an hour or more the ship steams swiftly 
down the gulf, past the tiny "Five Islands," with 
their brightly painted bungalows amid the ver- 
dure; past the great gray prison on its little isle; 
past an endless succession of mountains, hills, and 
valleys rising from the water's edge in tier after 
tier to distant, shadowy, cloudlike forms of hazy 
blue, until, at last, anchor is dropped in the har- 
bor of Port-of-Spain. 

Three miles or more from land the ship swings to 



146 THE WEST INDIES 

her moorings amid a fleet of steamers, sailing ships, 
and coal hulks, for the harbor is shallow and freight 
and passengers must be transported to the town in 
tugs, launches, and lighters. 

Beneath the shadow of the mountains, upon a 
gently sloping plain, lies Port-of-Spain, its build- 
ings stretching for miles along the shore, but with 
little of the city itself visible amid the waving 
palms and clustering verdure, and, seeing it from 
a distance, no one would dream that here is a 
town of seventy thousand inhabitants, the largest, 
busiest port in the British West Indies and the 
second largest city in the Antilles. 

Serene and peaceful the vast green island sweeps 
from horizon to horizon : to the north, lofty, rugged, 
crumpled in countless ridges and massive peaks, 
slashed and hewn with black defiles and shadow}'' 
valleys; to the south, dropping from rounded hills 
to rolling plains and broad savanna lands, low, 
flat, and shimmering with a golden haze. 

Largest of the Lesser Antilles and most southerly 
of West Indian isles is Trinidad, fifty-five miles 
long and forty miles in width, and so immense in 
area that it seems a hilly rather than a mountain- 
ous land, although Tucutche towers for over three 
thousand feet above the sea and many lesser peaks 
are half a mile or more in height. 

Much of the impressive grandeur and the sub- 
lime scenery of the smaller volcanic islands is 



TRINIDAD, THE MAGNIFICENT 147 

lacking, but none can surpass Trinidad in luxuri- 
ance of vegetation, wonderful cataracts, richness, 
resources, and progress. Within its pathless for- 
ests of rare and valuable woods teems strange wild 
life. Monkeys and parrots scream and chatter 
in the tree tops, ant-bears, sloths, ocelots, and pec- 
caries haunt the jungles, alligators sun themselves 
on banks of estuaries and lagoons, and birds of 
brilliant plumage flit amid the foliage. Its 
resources are marvelous, inexhaustible, its fertil- 
ity incredible and its fauna and flora that of the 
South American wilderness, for Trinidad is but a 
detached bit of the Southern continent separated 
from its parent only by the narrow bocas. Here 
is one's ideal of the tropics, the realization of 
youthful dreams of dark jungles, strange beasts 
and birds, intense color, vast morasses, trackless 
forests, unknown caverns, and a wilderness of 
mountains. Its only drawback is its climate, for 
with all its attractions and charms — and they are 
manifold — Trinidad is hot, damp, and oppressive 
on its westward slopes, for the trade wind never 
reaches here, — the mountains encompass the town 
as with a stupendous wall, — and no life-giving 
breeze comes from the great landlocked gulf. 
But it is not unhealthy, and on the hills — even 
at the slight elevation of the savanna — one may 
find cool nights and bearable days, while on the 
windward slopes the air is cool, breezes blow 



148 THE WEST INDIES 

ceaselessly, and save at midday the climate is 
all that one could wish. 

When the visitor steps ashore at Port-of-Spain 
he steps into a big, modern, bustling town. At 
the large, commodious, well-built docks which 
line the water-front are scores of sailing vessels, 
countless lighters and barges, dozens of coastwise 
steamers, and innumerable launches, tugs, and 
miscellaneous craft. 

The broad, smooth thoroughfares are crowded 
with moving vehicles of every description, from 
humble donkey-carts to huge motor-trucks, and 
the nearby railway yards are filled with lines of 
freight cars, coaches, and locomotives. Parallel 
with the shore, a great double avenue runs from 
end to end of the town, its central portion swarded 
and shaded with rows of spreading mahogany 
trees, beneath which are well-kept paths and neat 
benches. This splendid, park-like thoroughfare, 
known as Marine Square, would be a credit to 
any city, but there are few streets in Port-of-Spain 
of which the same could not be said with equal 
truth. All the streets are beautifully paved with 
asphalt, as are many of the remote country roads 
as well, — for Trinidad is the source of the greater 
portion of the world's asphalt supply and it is the 
cheapest road-making material on the island, — and 
all are wide, straight, well kept, and so clean they 
would put the best of New York's avenues to shame. 



TRINIDAD, THE MAGNIFICENT 149 

The city is well laid out, nearly all the streets 
running at right angles, there are numerous shaded 
parks and breathing spaces, trolley cars run every- 
where, and the whole aspect of the town is one of 
progress, modernity, prosperity, and neatness. 
About Marine Square, Broadway, and Frederick 
Streets, are most of the large stores and wholesale 
houses, the banks, clubs, and steamship offices, but 
there are stores and shops everywhere and the 
strictly residential portions of the town are in 
the suburbs. 

The buildings are nearly all of stone or concrete, 
well built, brightly painted, many very artistic, 
and all, save the government buildings, with a 
decidedly tropical, foreign appearance. 

The shopping district fairly teems with pedes- 
trians and vehicles throughout the business hours, 
and Frederick Street, which is perhaps the busiest 
in the city, is a gay and interesting sight, kaleido- 
scopic in color, crowded with life, and a very bee- 
hive of activity. Here are stores after stores of 
every kind, many modeled on the plan of our own 
department stores, and here one may find anything 
and everything the markets of the world afford. 

Bright-hued — even gaudily painted — are the 
buildings, and with canvas sun awnings bearing 
advertisements, the names of stores, or ornamental 
designs hung above the sidewalks, while passing 
to and fro in an ever-flowing stream are people 



150 THE WEST INDIES 

of a score of races, and a dozen tongues greet 
one's ears. Exquisitely gowned French ladies, 
dark-eyed Spanish and Venezuelan senoritas, 
pantalooned Chinese women, buxom negresses, 
statuesque quadroons, swarthy Portuguese, pink- 
cheeked English girls fresh from home, pale-faced 
English women who have dwelt long in the tropics, 
nervously hurrying tourists from the States, and 
dark-skinned, dog-eyed coolie women in filmy 
lace, with rings in noses and laden with massive 
silver anklets and bracelets galore, all jostle one 
another on the crowded sidewalks and in the busy 
shops. And liberally represented are the mascu- 
line members of Port-of-Spain's polyglot popula- 
tion. Half-naked, spindle-legged Hindus with 
huge turbans, stolid Chinese, herculean negroes, 
fiercely mustached Latin-Americans, French, Span- 
ish, Italian, Portuguese, English, Americans, Dutch, 
Irish, Scotch, Norwegians, every race and nation, 
save Germans, are there, as well as innumerable, 
unidentifiable individuals in whose veins runs the 
blood of half the nations of Europe and a varying 
quantity of Africa. 

Wonderful linguists must be the clerks in 
Trinidad's stores, for within a space of ten minutes 
the man behind the counter may be called upon 
to wait on customers in as many tongues. Spanish 
is spoken everywhere and one hears it quite as 
often as English, for Trinidad was long under 



TRINIDAD, THE MAGNIFICENT 151 

Spanish rule and its proximity to Venezuela re- 
sults in an enormous Spanish population and trade. 
French runs Castilian a close second and Italian, 
Portuguese, Creole patois, and Hindustani are 
all in the day's work. 

And, speaking of Hindustani, here in Trinidad 
for the first time the visitor to the islands sees the 
picturesque East Indians, the coolies, who, brought 
over as indentured field hands to solve the labor 
problem, have prospered and increased and add 
a delightful Oriental touch to the island's attrac- 
tions. One sees them everywhere, the men, thin 
almost to emaciation, clad in the briefest of cotton 
garments consisting, like Gunga Din's costume, 
of "Nothing much before and rather less than 
half as much behind, " yet, despite their attenuated 
figures, such tireless, ever-toiling workers that 
the stranger wonders if they can be creatures of 
flesh and blood. The women, on the other hand, 
are plump and often comely and are attired in 
bright-hued jackets, white petticoats, and flowing 
silken scarfs and fairly scintillate with barbaric 
jewelry, some selling sweetmeats or fruits by the 
wayside, others nursemaids with fair-haired chil- 
dren in charge, and still others menial laborers 
like their turbaned better halves. But the coolies 
are not seen at their best in Port-of Spain, they are 
merely incidental, and to study them amid all the 
accompaniments and atmosphere of transplanted 



152 THE WEST INDIES 

India, one should visit their settlements in the 
outlying districts, on the estates, or in San Fer- 
nando down the coast. 

Port-of-Spain is so large that the visitor, whose 
time is limited, should avail himself of one of the 
numerous, or rather innumerable, public "cabs" — 
which are really ramshackle victorias, — or, if pre- 
ferred, a public motor car, and "do" the town in 
comfort. Trolley rides will carry one to most of 
the places of interest, but they have their limita- 
tions, and cab rates are very low, for the one "im- 
provement" to which the Trinidadians have not 
awakened is the bankrupting taxi. You won't need 
a guide, your black jehu will be guide, philosopher, 
and friend in one, and no megaphone-equipped 
conductor of a metropolitan "rubber-neck" auto 
can compare with the Trinidad cabby when it 
comes to showing one the "sights" of his beloved 
capital. But, before engaging him, be sure of 
your bargain: if merely hired by the hour you 
may find he is a firm believer in the old adage 
that "the longest way round is the shortest way 
home," and will drive through half the streets 
of the city to go a couple of blocks. His 
tariff is regulated by law, and a card with 
the rates is hung up in every public vehicle; 
but if the cabman cannot charge more than 
the legal price there is nothing to prevent 
him from taking less, or to enter into a bar- 




A COOLIE GIRL, TRINIDAD 



TRINIDAD, THE MAGNIFICENT 153 

gain to visit certain stipulated places for a definite 
sum. 

There are many places of interest to be seen 
in and about Port-of-Spain. Facing Brunswick 
Square, with its broad lawns, its dense shade trees, 
and its fountain, are the massive red government 
buildings, a splendid edifice, and opposite are the 
police barracks and the court house. Near at 
hand, and also on Brunswick Square, is the 
beautiful Anglican cathedral of the Holy Trinity. 
At the southern end of the town is the Catholic 
cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, with 
many notable paintings, a Florentian pulpit, and 
beautiful stained glass windows. There is an 
excellent Public Library, a fine hospital, and street 
after street of lovely villas in the midst of gardens 
which seem veritable bits of fairyland. But the 
center of interest, the chef d'ceuvre of Port-of- 
Spain's attractions, is the savanna or Queen's 
Park. 

At the summit of the slope on which the city 
stands is the savanna, a broad oval stretch of 
greensward some two hundred acres in extent, 
bordered by spreading saman trees and flaming 
poincianas and encircled by a splendid boulevard. 
About it, on three sides, are magnificent mansions 
in gardens worthy of an Oriental potentate; nest- 
like bungalows and villas half -hidden in climbing 
gorgeous-flowered vines, giant rose trees, and 



154 THE WEST INDIES 

graceful palms ; and the great Queen's Park Hotel, 
with its open-air dining-rooms, its broad verandas, 
and its beautiful surroundings. On the fourth side 
stands the Government House, — a stately struc- 
ture that reminds one of an old chateau, — in the 
midst of spacious grounds ablaze with flowers, 
surrounded with palms and rare trees and with a 
wonderful background of lofty rich green moun- 
tains, and adjoining it are the public gardens 
which are, in themselves, worth going far to see. 

Upon the savanna, sleek cattle graze, races are 
held, and polo, football, cricket, and other games 
are played, for it is large enough for all, and here, 
of an afternoon, come all the wealth and fashion 
of Port-of -Spain, to see and be seen, to indulge in 
the outdoor sports, — which no true Britisher can 
forego, regardless of climate or geography, — and to 
enjoy the cool evening breeze. And marvelously 
beautiful and enchanting is the savanna as the 
great red sun sinks behind the Venezuelan moun- 
tains across the gulf and darkness descends with 
tropic swiftness upon the land. From speeding 
motor cars and open windows bright beams of 
light glint through shrubbery and gleam on 
ghostly palm trunks, casting long mysterious shad- 
ows across the broad white road. Upon the soft 
scented breeze are borne the merry sounds of 
laughter and of music. Over the dusky, dim 
savanna the fireflies dance like troops of elves, and 



TRINIDAD, THE MAGNIFICENT 155 

against the star-studded, velvet sky the moun- 
tains loom — vast and black — like the massive 
battlements of an ogre's castle. 

But Trinidad's greatest beauties lie without the 
town and, unlike many of the other islands' 
attractions, they are all easily accessible by rail- 
way, carriage, motor car, or coastwise steamer. 

Within easy walking or driving distance is the 
capital's source of water supply, the Maraval 
Reservoir. Beautifully situated is the great arti- 
ficial lake in a lovely valley at whose head stands 
the lofty "Silla," and whose natural attractions 
are enhanced a hundred fold by admirably placed 
groups of palm trees, great clumps of gigantic bam- 
boos, brilliant flowering shrubs, hedges of multi- 
colored crotons, and rustic, embowered summer 
houses. 

Less than ten miles from town is the famed 
Blue Basin, a sight without a counterpart in all 
the world. Here in the rich Diego Martin valley 
a flashing silver stream gushes from the green 
depths of the mountainside and, in a single un- 
broken cataract, plunges into a great bowl-like 
basin of rock, fringed with ferns and plant life 
wonderful to behold. And if this were all, the 
journey to the valley would be well repaid, but 
the crowning glory of the whole, the culminating 
wonder of the spot, is the rock-bound pool into 
which the cascade pours. Crystalline in its purity 



156 THE WEST INDIES 

the water issues from the verdure, but within the 
basin below, for some unknown cause, it is trans- 
formed into liquid sapphire, a pool of cerulean 
hue so intense, so artificial in its color, that it 
seems as if one's hand, if dipped within it, would 
be drawn forth dyed azure. 

Even more beautiful in its surroundings, and far 
greater in height and volume, is the Maraccas 
Waterfall in the valley of the same name some 
fourteen miles from Port-of-Spain, and to reach 
which one passes through sleepy, restful, quaint, 
old St. Joseph, the original site of the settlement 
of. the island and until the British occupation 
known as San Jose. 

Luxuriant with vegetation, its slopes rich with 
cocoa groves and dominated by Tucutche, loftiest 
peak of Trinidad, the Maraccas Valley is one. of the 
island's beauty spots and a fitting setting for the 
cataract that has made the valley famous. A 
sheer 350 feet the roaring mass of water plunges 
over the precipice, while from it ever drifts a filnry 
veil of mist and spray that bathes the delicate 
ferns, the flowering gloxinias, the delicate begonias, 
the strange orchids, and the trailing vines with a 
ceaseless shower. Like hoarfrost the moisture 
clings to blossom, leaf, and twigs, a gentle breeze 
ever stirs the seeping foliage and, spanning the 
silver torrent like a fairy bridge, arches a rainbow. 

Even larger and more beautiful, if that were 



TRINIDAD, THE MAGNIFICENT 157 

possible, is the Caura Waterfall, a wild, impressive 
cataract in the midst of the virgin forest near 
Arima; but to reach it entails a horseback ride 
and a tramp afoot for several miles after leaving 
the railway. 

Another trip of great interest and beauty is by 
boat to the Five Islands and the bocas. Like 
the Antilles in miniature the little islets dot the 
surface of the gulf, each verdured, each with 
charming bungalows and villas peeping from the 
foliage, each with its lilliputian beaches, its tiny 
coves, and its secluded nooks, and all charming, 
picturesque, delectable, seemingly created as ideal 
spots for picnics, lovers, and honeymoons and 
well patronized by the Trinidadians for such 
purposes. Upon the islands between the bocas 
are also many attractive bungalows and villas, and 
all about are charming bathing beaches, wild sea- 
washed crags, and great caverns into whose yawn- 
ing mouths the visitor may enter by boat in calm 
weather. Here, in the bowels of the solid cliffs, 
dwell the guacharos or devil birds, the alleged 
nut-eating, bewhiskered birds of Rooseveltian 
fame, — a species of goatsucker beloved as tidbits 
by Trinidad epicures, and so reeking with grease 
that the natives use them as butter or, by running 
a wick through their bodies, convert them into 
ornithological candles. 

But Trinidad's most famous sight — its greatest 



158 THE WEST INDIES 

wonder — is the Pitch Lake, and no visit to the 
island would be complete without a trip to this 
really remarkable and interesting spot. To reach 
the Pitch Lake from Port-of-Spain one must 
travel by rail to San Fernando and hence by gulf 
steamer to Brighton or La Brea. 

Those who visit Trinidad by the ships of the 
Trinidad Line — the only line sailing for Trinidad 
from New York at present — will have unequaled 
opportunities for seeing this strange phenomenon, 
however, for the ships usually go to San Fernando 
on the outward voyage and stop for several days 
at Brighton, loading asphalt, on the return trip. 
But the journey by rail and steamer entails no 
hardships or discomforts and affords a splendid 
view of the low country south of Port-of-Spain, 
as well as a chance to see quaint, picturesque San 
Fernando. 

And San Fernando is well worth seeing, albeit 
a few hours will suffice to " do " the town thorough- 
ly. From the water front and railway station San 
Fernando climbs up a steep hill and, like the King 
of France and his men, no sooner does it reach 
the top than it marches down again. And, not 
content with struggling up and down the slopes, 
the queer little town has burrowed into the hill 
in spots and has hewn spaces for its buildings in the 
limestone rock of conical Naparima Hill which 
towers above the town. 




THE BLUE BASIN, TRINIDAD 



TRINIDAD, THE MAGNIFICENT 159 

'Sharply and at all angles run the streets, — as 
if some browsing goat had wandered aimlessly 
about and the streets had been laid out in the 
creature's tracks; most of the buildings are small, 
flimsy, and of wood, there are few large or impres- 
sive structures, and yet San Fernando is interest- 
ing, for it is the port of the sugar district and 
swarms with coolies until it appears like a bit of 
India rather than a town of the Antilles. 

Everywhere the Hindus are in evidence, men, 
women, and children, of all ages and all degrees, 
from the half-clad field hand to the silk-robed 
nabob in his motor car. Every occupation, every 
trade of India is represented : silversmiths hammer- 
ing coins into rough jewelry on tiny anvils in the 
doorways of their shops; vendors of fruits, vege- 
tables, and what not squatting beside their wares 
at the wayside; shaven-headed fakirs in rags and 
tatters; holy men with painted foreheads and 
beards dyed scarlet; merchants with stores filled 
with Benares brasses, weird musical instruments, 
strange foods and spices, prayer- wheels, beads, 
charms, amulets, gay-hued cloths, wonderful 
embroideries, crude images of Buddha and Brah- 
min gods, and a thousand-and-one objects whose 
use is known only to the coolies; sleek, well-fed 
planters who have risen from lowly laborers to 
affluence and, robed in flowing, spotless silks, drive 
luxuriously in costly motor cars; spectacled gray- 



i6o THE WEST INDIES 

bearded wise men teaching their brown-skinned 
pupils in the shade of roadside trees; priests reading 
aloud from the Koran to knots of the faithful who, 
grave-faced, listen in silence to the words of the 
Prophet; Parsees, Brahmins, Hindus, Mohamme- 
dans, — a score of races, hundreds of castes, a 
thousand types are to be seen. Unchanged by 
surroundings, uninfluenced by conditions, they 
live the same lives, follow the same customs, and 
wear the same garments as in far-off India. Across 
thousands of leagues of sea they have brought their 
beliefs, their religions, their goods, their manners, 
their foods, their gods, even the very atmosphere 
and mystery of the East. Peaceable they are, 
thrifty, hard-working, law-abiding, and to them 
Trinidad owes much of its prosperity to-day, 
for they solved the labor problem of the island. 
Few have returned to India when the term of 
their contracts ended and many have become 
well-to-do merchants and planters. Despised by 
and despising the negroes, looked down upon by 
the whites, yet serenely the coolies go their ways 
and mind their own business, unruffled, undis- 
turbed, but in the hearts of one and all — from low- 
liest laborer, toiling in cane or rice field for a shilling 
a day, to merchant prince; from guttersweep to 
white-bearded Moslem priest — there is contempt 
and scorn for the Christians and the white-skinned 
race whose ancestors were naked savages when the 



TRINIDAD, THE MAGNIFICENT 161 

civilization of India was hoary with the weight of 
countless centuries. 

Some twenty miles from San Fernando, a charm- 
ing sail by the swift gulf steamers or an entrancing 
trip by motor car, the long pier at Brighton 
stretches for 1800 feet into the waters of the gulf. 
To this dock moor the great steamships of the 
Trinidad Line, while loading asphalt, and to it 
also come the ugly tank steamers to load with oil, 
for Trinidad is fast coming to the fore as a petrole- 
um-producing land, and a number of the largest 
wells and many gigantic storage tanks are in the 
immediate vicinity of the Pitch Lake. 

Along the pier, and up the hillside beyond, 
stretch wire cables and over these, slowly, steadily, 
travels an endless procession of great square iron 
buckets. Filled to the brim with asphalt, as they 
come rumbling seaward from the hilltop, each 
bucket is dumped with crash and bang into the 
hold of the waiting ship and, with scarce a halt, 
is sent swinging empty on its mile-long journey to 
be refilled. Almost in a steady stream is the 
asphalt poured into the ship, and a thousand tons 
a day are often loaded, with less than a dozen negro 
laborers required to accomplish the work. 

To visit the lake it is only necessary to follow 
the cableway and its rattling buckets, but by all 
means choose early morning or late afternoon for 
the trip. During the day Brighton is hot beyond 



162 THE WEST INDIES 

words ; the glaring asphalt roads reflect and radiate 
the blazing sunlight until the air is like a furnace, 
there is not a square inch of shade along the way, 
and a breath of air is rare indeed. 

No sooner does one set foot on shore at Brighton 
than the presence of vast quantities of asphalt is 
manifest. Wave-polished lumps of asphalt strew 
the beach in place of pebbles, jutting reefs of the 
same substance project from the shallows, black 
ledges break the sandy stretch of shore and jut 
from the bluffs, and everywhere, among the scant 
herbage and coarse grass of the hillside, are seen 
the wrinkled, rounded, dull-black masses, like the 
dead bodies of huge pachyderms half -buried in the 
earth. 

At the summit of the hill stand the big sheds 
of the refinery, the machine shops, the engine 
houses, the pumping station, and the other works 
of the asphalt company, and just beyond, in a 
slight hollow, lies the world-famous lake. 
f Never was spot more misleadingly named, for 
the Pitch Lake has no resemblance to a lake, and 
neither is it pitch. Far more does it appear like 
a peat bog, or a partly dried swamp, for covering 
an area of some 125 acres is an uneven expanse of 
dull brownish black, partly overgrown with coarse 
dry grass, low brush, and weeds, and with pools of 
stagnant water filling the hollows and depressions 
of its surface. 




ENTERING THE BOCAS, TRINIDAD 




DIGGING ASPHALT, TRINIDAD 



TRINIDAD, THE MAGNIFICENT 163 

Across it meander uneven, wavering railway 
tracks, here and there groups of negroes are work- 
ing busily with pick and shovel, and strings of 
cars stand waiting for their loads. As soon as the 
cars are filled they are hauled creaking and com- 
plaining towards the sheds, another train comes 
dashing down the incline with roar and clatter, and 
noisily the asphalt is tumbled into the cars by the 
black laborers. About the borders of the "lake" 
are the parched, sere hills, merging into thorny, 
scrubby jungle, above which rise groves of stunted 
palms, and, looming dark against the sky on the 
nearby ridges, are the great derricks and monstrous 
ugly tanks of the oil wells. No scene could be less 
attractive, less picturesque, or more prosaic, and 
yet the spot is one of the wonders of the world, 
a seemingly inexhaustible storehouse of one of 
civilization's most useful substances, a source of 
vast revenue for the company which controls it, 
and the most lucrative of Trinidad's resources. 

Much to the surprise of many visitors, the sur- 
face of the asphalt is not soft nor sticky. One 
may walk across it in perfect safety, save for the 
danger of wetting one's shoes in the pools of water. 
It is firm and solid enough to support the weight of 
tracks and cars; when dug by pick and shovel, it 
breaks away from the mass in firm, hard lumps, 
with a bright, smooth surface like dull brown coal, 
£nd it may be freely handled without even soiling 



1 64 THE WEST INDIES 

one's hands. And yet the vast mass of asphalt is 
not solid. If left in one spot the rails soon sink 
from sight ; if a man stands immovable for a short 
time his feet sink into the surface, and the holes and 
pits, from which the material is removed, soon 
disappear and are filled with fresh asphalt; even 
within the holds of the ships, the coarse separate 
lumps become transformed into a solid homogene- 
ous mass ere the vessels reach New York; and 
which must be dug out by pick and shovel exactly 
as from the lake itself. 

How deep beneath the surface the asphalt 
extends no one can say, but borings have been 
made for hundreds of feet without rinding its 
limit. As fast as removed it is replaced by nature, 
and, for miles about, the asphalt crops up amid 
the jungle that covers the land, while across the 
gulf, in Venezuela, is another and even larger 
"lake," and it is not unlikely that the deposit 
extends beneath the water from shore to shore. 
Hundreds of thousands of tons have been shipped 
away annually for many years, with little or no 
apparent effect upon the lake, and even if not 
absolutely inexhaustible, yet there is enough 
asphalt in Trinidad to supply the world for many 
years to come. 

But it is not, as many suppose, of volcanic origin. 
It is merely one of the products of nature's labora- 
tory, a substance formed from vegetation that 



TRINIDAD, THE MAGNIFICENT 165 

grew and died in a morass when the world was 
young; a treasure hidden in the bowels of the 
earth, to serve man's needs, countless millions of 
years ere the first man trod our planet. The very 
presence of the asphalt proves the antiquity of 
Trinidad. There are no indications of volcanic 
activity, — even of extinct craters, — on the island, 
and the so-called "Mud Volcanoes" of Princes 
Town are merely the puny outbursts of natural 
gas from the petroleum-bearing beds beneath the 
surface of the earth. A few years ago the mineral 
riches hidden in Trinidad's bosom were undreamed 
of, but to-day oil wells by the score are pouring 
forth their riches to swell the island's wealth. 
Above the giant forest trees rise the black derricks, 
the wilderness echoes to the clang of drills and the 
clatter and clank of pumps, and pipe lines twist, 
like huge black serpents, through the jungles. 

Yet the surface of this land has been barely 
scratched, only an infinitesimal part of its resources 
have been developed, and untold fortunes still lie 
unknown, unsuspected, in its hills and valleys, 
its mountains and its forests; it is a land of vast 
promise, of marvelous opportunities, — truly, the 
Magnificent Isle. 

Aside from Trinidad's scenes and sights there 
are many other places of great interest and beauty 
within easy reach from Port-of-Spain. 

Steamers run regularly to Ciudad Bolivar, in 



166 THE WEST INDIES 

the heart of Venezuela, and an excursion by one of 
these boats up the mighty Orinoco and through the 
midst of the untamed, primeval South American 
wilderness is a veritable trip through nature's 
wonderland. 

Then there is Margarita, that little-known 
mountainous island off Venezuela, and from whose 
waters a million dollars' worth of pearls are taken 
yearly, while still more interesting is the Dutch 
island of Curacao. 

CURASAO 

Like a bit of Holland whisked bodily over sea 
and dropped down in the Caribbean is Curacao. 
Upon a landlocked, clover-leaf-shaped harbor 
stands the town of Willemstadt and reached only 
by a narrow strait between two ancient forts 
so close together that the woodeny Dutch soldiers 
of the garrisons can converse across the harbor 
entrance. But more interesting than the quaint 
old forts upon the bare brown hills is the bridge 
which bars the channel, for it is a bridge of boats, 
and, when a vessel leaves or enters the harbor, 
the novel causeway is moved aside by the simple 
method of towing one end of the string of pontoons 
with a steam launch. 

Once within the harbor the bridge is forgotten 
at sight of the town. Pink, yellow, blue, green, 




THE HIGH WOODS, TRINIDAD 



TRINIDAD, THE MAGNIFICENT 167 

red — all the colors of the rainbow — are the houses 
and buildings, whose steep, tiled roofs, dormer 
windows, and quaint ornamentation appear so in- 
congruous, so out of place, so thoroughly Dutch, 
that the visitor is tempted to pinch himself to 
make sure he is really awake and in his right mind. 
All that is needed are a few storks on the roof- 
tops and a windmill or two, but there is no work 
for windmills to do in Curacao and ostriches are 
more useful than storks. In other words, Cu- 
racao's manufacturing and agricultural resources 
are nil, and ostrich farming bids fair to be the 
island's most lucrative business. Barren, sterile, 
and dry, Curacao offers no inducements to the 
husbandman and, aside from aloes, a few vege- 
tables, and a little fruit, nothing is grown. Upon 
its trade and commerce Curacao has always de- 
pended, for it is a free port, and its location and 
perfect harbor have made it a busy, important port, 
as well as a notorious spot for ambitious and dis- 
gruntled Latin- Americans to hatch out revolution- 
ary plots in safety. Recently the ostrich farms 
have been established and are doing well, but the 
strangest of the island's industries — the last busi- 
ness one would look for in this out-of-the-way, 
picturesque town — is the big publishing house and 
book store of Betancourt. There is little to be 
seen in Curacao outside of the town, for while 
forty miles long and eight miles wide it is sparsely 



1 68 THE WEST INDIES 

inhabited and its surface is, for the most part, most 
forbidding and unattractive, — a parched, sunburnt, 
mountainous land without stream, lake, or spring, 
and how the giant race of Indians, which old 
Amerigo Vespucci claimed to have found here, 
ever eked out an existence is a puzzle. 

But the town is interesting, and as a diminutive 
tram-line, with donkeys for motive power, runs 
through the streets and to the suburb, known as 
Otrabanda, across the harbor, the visitor may 
cover most of the sights with little exertion. 
Many of the streets are wide and smoothly paved, 
but many more are quaint lanes with pavements of 
rough cobbles and so narrow that the projecting 
balconies of the houses almost meet above one's 
head. And if the picturesque Dutch town seems 
incongruous here in the tropics, even more strik- 
ingly out of place seem the people who throng its 
streets, for one looks in vain for the baggy panta- 
loons, the wooden shoes, and the stiff starched caps 
which befit Curacao's byways. Dutchmen there 
are, and Dutchwomen too, but far more numer- 
ous are the black, brown, and yellow-skinned 
natives of African blood, in bright turbans, gaudy 
kerchiefs, and blazing colors, while the chatter 
one hears is not Dutch or English, not French or 
Spanish, but a marvelous jargon, a language 
peculiar to Curasao, a mixture of Dutch, Spanish, 
English, Indian, and negro, known as Papiamento. 



TRINIDAD, THE MAGNIFICENT 169 

TOBAGO 

Far closer to Trinidad than Curacao, only eigh- 
teen miles distant to be exact, lies another island 
which, if it lacks the quaint and "Dutchy" at- 
mosphere of Willemstadt, is fully as interesting and 
far more beautiful. 

This is Tobago, the scene of Robinson Crusoe's 
story, the one-time residence of John Paul Jones, 
and an island of supreme beauty whose stormy 
history is without a parallel in the blood-stained 
annals of the West Indies. 

No doubt it will come as a surprise to many to 
learn that Tobago is the isle on which poor Robin- 
son dwelt with Man Friday, for Juan Fernandez 
has been so long associated with Defoe's hero that 
it is hard to separate the real from the unreal, to 
disentangle the fiction from the fact. 

But if those who are skeptical will but refresh 
their memories and read again the story of Robin- 
son Crusoe, all doubts will be dispelled. 

Does not our boyhood's idol relate how he set 
sail from Brazil for Africa? Does he not state 
that his ship was blown off its course and, after 
an observation, he learned he was in "Latitude 
eleven degrees north, beyond the coast of Guiana, 
toward the River Oronoque"? Does he not tell 
how he strove to reach the "English Islands, " but 
was wrecked on his desert isle? Is it then con- 



170 THE WEST INDIES 

ceivable that the ship was blown completely around 
Cape Horn to Juan Fernandez, or that the land on 
which he was wrecked could, by any stretch of 
the imagination, be other than one of the Lesser 
Antilles? And, admitting this, what island could 
it have been but Tobago, the only isle from whose 
hills the castaway could have peered forth across 
the muddy waters of the "Gulph of the Oro- 
noque, " to which he refers, and see the faint out- 
lines of the "Island of Trinidad, " as stated in his 
story? 

Unquestionably Alexander Selkirk was ma- 
rooned on Juan Fernandez — such is an historical 
fact — but Defoe, in writing his immortal tale, 
founded on Selkirk's life, placed his fictitious 
hero on a much more suitable and promising 
spot. 

The justice of Tobago's claim to be called " Cru- 
soe's Island" is unquestionable; the natives can 
even show you the cave wherein he dwelt and the 
imprint of Friday's feet in the rocks, and the 
visitor to the lovely isle will wonder why the casta- 
way ever deserted it. 

Surely one who was "Monarch of all he sur- 
veyed" on Tobago and "Whose right there was 
none to dispute" could ask for no fairer kingdom 
in which to rule and pass his days in peace, even 
though his subjects were but naked savages, wild 
goats, and bright-hued parrots. 



TRINIDAD, THE MAGNIFICENT 171 

Like its larger neighbor, Trinidad, the island of 
Tobago is merely a bit of the South American con- 
tinent and with much the same fauna and flora; 
but here all resemblance ends. 

Neither lofty nor massive is Tobago, its highest 
peak, Pigeon Hill, rising scarcely two thousand 
feet above the sea, and it can hardly be called 
mountainous as compared to the other islands. 
From its low, sandy southern coast it rises by 
degrees, through level and undulating plains and 
conical hills amid bowl-like valleys, to the forested 
mountain-ranges of the north, and through nearly 
every vale there flows a stream of sparkling crystal 
water. 

Wonderfully varied and attractive is its coast 
line, with crescent sand beaches bordering shel- 
tered coves; outlying verdure-draped rocky islets 
and wooded cays; surf -washed reefs, protecting 
secluded lagoons with arching trees above the 
placid waters, and precipitous headlands, guarding 
hidden, landlocked harbors within which, in days 
long past, lurked many a fierce pirate and bold 
sea-rover. Even the size of Tobago adds to its 
charm, for it is neither so large as to be overwhelm- 
ing nor so small as to be insignificant, and yet so 
admirably proportioned is the island, on such an 
extensive scale has nature molded the landscape, 
that it gives one the impression of a miniature 
continent rather than an island. 



172 THE WEST INDIES 

Its greatest length is but twenty-six miles; its 
greatest width but eight miles, and much of its 
73,000 acres is still virgin forest teeming with 
furred and feathered life. Everywhere wonder- 
fully luxuriant vegetation covers the land from 
sea to mountain top, and everywhere the fertile 
soil yields bounteous crops of cocoa, rubber, fruits, 
and cotton, while along the coasts and on the 
lowlands are countless thousands of cocoa palms, 
vast groves of smooth gray trunks and softly 
clashing fronds, like a labyrinth of columns sup- 
porting a canopy of green and gold. 

Upon the southern coast is the capital and only 
town of any size or importance, — the port of 
Scarborough. Nestling at the base of a hill 450 
feet in height and which is crowned with the ruins 
of Fort King George, is the town, a place of some 
3000 inhabitants and a wide-awake, prosperous, 
self-respecting little spot. The government build- 
ings are the most prominent and interesting build- 
ings in the town and there are several notable 
churches and many well-stocked stores, but To- 
bago's attractions are in the country and not in 
Scarborough. 

With a delightful, healthy climate; outside the 
hurricane zone; with no lurking menace of a vol- 
canic outburst or destructive earthquake; no 
swamps; no poisonous snakes; its magnificent scen- 
ery and its air of quiet, restful peace, Tobago should 



TRINIDAD, THE MAGNIFICENT 173 

be an ideal spot for a winter resort, once its attrac- 
tions are known. 

From end to end, from coast to coast, one may- 
wander in Tobago with perfect safety and secu- 
rity, although the roads are none too good, and 
many a river must be forded in going from place to 
place. 

Fought over for centuries by French, Spanish, 
British, Dutch, and Caribs, and often deserted 
for scores of years at a time, it is remarkable that 
the early settlers found time to do anything, save 
spill one another's blood. Surely they must have 
been a stout, hardy, energetic, persistent lot, for, 
between battles, they tilled the soil, built roads, 
constructed forts, and accomplished much. To-day 
one may find the ruins of their forts and buildings, 
their houses and their mills, overgrown with brush 
and creepers, and sections still remain of the paved 
highway which once spanned the island from shore 
to shore. 

Strange and thrilling indeed would be the tales 
these ancient ruins could tell, for many a fierce and 
bloody conflict raged about them, but the crum- 
bling stones and the rusting guns are silent, the 
deeds of cruelty and valor, which reddened To- 
bago's soil, are but memories of the past, and such 
names as Bloody Bay, Man-o'-War Bay, and 
Englishmen's Bay are all that remain to remind us 
of the island's turbulent history. 



CHAPTER XIV 

SANTO DOMINGO, THE HISTORIC 

Many a name has this island borne. To the 
simple Indians it was Haiti — the "High Land"; 
to the Spaniard it was Hispaniola; in later years 
it became Santo Domingo; and, torn by revolutions, 
drenched with blood, and divided between French 
and Spanish, the western third assumed its ancient 
name of Haiti, while the other two thirds was 
christened the Dominican Republic. Also has it 
been called the "Isle of Misrule" and "The Land 
of Revolutions," while it is commonly referred to 
as "The Black Republic." 

But most appropriately may it be called "The 
Island where Time has Stood Still, " for the visitor 
to Santo Domingo finds a land redolent of the 
distant East, scenes unaltered through four hun- 
dred years and more, and surroundings contempo- 
raneous with Columbus and the conquistadores. 
We may gaze seaward from the very spot whereon 
the great discoverer sat and watched his flagship 
beaten to pieces on the reefs; we may push aside 
the brush and vines and find the crumbling founda- 

174 



SANTO DOMINGO, THE HISTORIC 175 

tions of the first European settlement on American 
soil; we may land upon the sandy shores of the 
self -same cove where the first European blood was 
shed in battle with the Indians; we may wander 
through streets whose identical pavements have 
rung to the tramp of mail-clad men led by Pizarro, 
Balboa, Cortez, De Soto, De Leon, and many a 
famed hidalgo, and we may still see their embla- 
zoned arms carved in the enduring keystones of 
their fortress-like houses. We may stroll through 
the ruined aisles of the first university in the New 
World, where youth was taught the three "R's" 
a century and more ere the Pilgrims landed at 
Plymouth Rock; we may see the very dungeon 
wherein Columbus was cast, a prisoner in chains, 
and we may kneel on the same worn flagging 
pressed by his knees at many a mass in the great ca- 
thedral where his bones still rest in their leaden 
casket. Truly is Santo Domingo the most historic 
spot in America, the cradle of European civilization 
in the New World, and the theater of the most awful 
massacres, the most atrocious cruelties, the most 
appalling acts of barbarism, inhumanity, hatred, 
revenge, and fiendish savagery the world has ever 
seen. Second largest of the West Indies, richest 
and most fertile of the Antilles, is Santo Domingo. 
Marvelously beautiful is its scenery, stupendous 
its mountains, vast its plains, wonderful its valleys. 
Through it flow immense rivers, within its borders 



176 THE WEST INDIES 

are lakes like inland seas, immeasurable forests 
clothe its surface, about its shores are islets larger 
than many of the Lesser Antilles, its peaks are the 
highest in the West Indies, and its streams liter- 
ally flow through golden sands. 

But with all its beauties, its resources, its riches, 
its historic interest, much of Santo Domingo is as 
primitive, as backward, as crude, as four centuries 
ago. Few indeed are the spots where the stranger 
may stop — even for a night — without inconven- 
iences, discomforts, or even hardships. But for- 
tunately this is not necessary; he who would visit 
Santo Domingo need not forego the pleasure and 
the interest for lack of accommodations, for the 
steamers of the Clyde West Indian Line visit 
every port of importance, they remain long enough 
in each to permit the passengers to see all the sights 
ashore, or even make railway journeys to inland 
towns, and the -traveler who makes the round 
voyage is independent of life ashore and dwells in 
comfort and ease aboard ship. 

Monte Christi, the first port of call, is a far from 
attractive spot, and, being situated in the most 
desolate and uninviting portion of the island, it is 
apt to convey a false and disappointing impression. 

Directly from the water rises a lofty hill, its 
face sliced off in a precipice of glaring red and yel- 
low; far in the distance rise massive mountain 
ranges, and at the foot of a broad, sloping, dead- 



SANTO DOMINGO, THE HISTORIC 177 

green plain are a few unpainted wooden huts, a 
warehouse or two of corrugated iron, and a long 
flimsy pier. 

Surrounded by mud flats and mangrove swamps 
and infested by myriads of bloodthirsty mosquitoes, 
the port of Monte Christi is untenable for civilized 
white men and is scarcely more than a landing 
place inhabited by a few negroes and colored 
laborers. From the port a carriage road and a 
mule tramway line run back to the hills and here, 
on the higher land, is the town proper. But, 
aside from the fact that it is the outlet of the vast 
and fertile Yaqui Valley and the breeding place 
of most of the revolutions which have swept the 
republic like epidemics and with amazing fre- 
quency, Monte Christi is of little importance, and 
of less interest. Eastward from this forlorn spot 
the aspect of the island rapidly changes. Soon 
the barren dun hills give place to slopes rich with 
verdure, luxuriant forests grow to the very shores, 
and huge green-clad mountains tower, in range 
after range, as far as eye can see. 

Wooded headlands and deep jungle-bordered 
coves are passed in endless succession, and on the 
shores of one of these bays Columbus founded 
Isabella, the first European city in the New World. 
To-day only a few stones, hidden in the brush, a 
crumbling wall, and a commemorative pillar mark 
the site of this historic spot. 



178 THE WEST INDIES 

Fifty miles east of here towers the perfect sym- 
metrical cone of Isabella la Torre, and at its base, 
upon a jutting hilly peninsula, lies the town of 
Puerto Plata. Hard would it be to find a prettier 
sight than Puerto Plata viewed from the sea. 
Up from the shores of the semicircular bay 
stretches the town, its red roofs gleaming 'mid 
myriads of palms, like poppies in a field of grain; 
to the left, the mellow pink and yellow-tinted 
antique fort upon the headland, and to the right, 
the crescent sweep of green mountains overtopped 
by the stupendous cone whose cloud-veiled summit, 
three thousand feet above the sea, no human foot 
has ever trod. 

From the shore a long iron pier extends into the 
bay, and so shallow is the water that, to load and 
unload the lighters, the teams are driven far into 
the sea, where, with the water washing about the 
horses' hips and the bottoms of the carts, the boxes, 
bales, and barrels are transferred from the cargo 
craft to the vehicles. Puerto Plata is neat, well 
kept, and with straight, fairly wide, smooth streets, 
and is so brilliant with color, so plentifully sprinkled 
with palms and verdure, so well supplied with 
electric lights, and so bright and shining that one's 
preconceived ideas of Santo Domingo are dropped 
like a cast-off garment as soon as one steps ashore. 

Few of the buildings are pretentious, but there are 
two large club-houses, one or two good hotels, — as 



SANTO DOMINGO, THE HISTORIC 179 

hotels go in the tropics, — some fine churches, a 
number of beautiful residences, and a very attrac- 
tive plaza, surrounded by palms and shade trees, 
and the government buildings. There is also a 
large, well-conducted military hospital, to the 
efficiency of which the author can testify, as he 
spent over two months therein. 

About Puerto Plata there are many charming 
drives into the outlying districts, and here one 
sees, for the first time, the riding bulls which are a 
distinctive feature of the island. Long-legged, 
swift, and sure of foot, and bred especially for use 
as saddle animals, these cattle are very different 
from our own slow-plodding oxen, and throughout 
the republic they are in universal use. It seems 
strange indeed to see a tiny boy, a woman or a 
young girl astride a huge needle-pointed, long- 
horned bull and trotting through city streets or 
along a country road, but the creatures are gentle 
and easily "steered" by a single rein attached to 
a ring in the nose, and while their gait is uncom- 
fortably jolty at first, one soon becomes accustomed 
to it and finds the bulls as easy riding as any 
equine mount. 

But, as road destroyers, the riding bulls of Santo 
Domingo surpass the most ponderous motor trucks. 
Even at their best the country roads of the island 
are scarce worthy of the name, and when it rains 
they are transformed into veritable streams of 



180 THE WEST INDIES 

mud. As the bulls have a peculiar habit of step- 
ping in one another's tracks, — like Indians follow- 
ing a trail, — the depressions in the roads soon be- 
come deep mud holes and, when the rain ceases, and 
the earth dries, the highways become an endless 
succession of transverse hills and hollows baked as 
hard as concrete by the sun. From hole to hole 
the bulls, horses, and mules leap like gigantic 
rabbits across the intervening ridges, each passing 
animal adding a little to the depth of the three-foot 
gullies, until the "highways" look like battle- 
fields in which opposing armies had intrenched 
themselves. And this is no exaggeration, no fanci- 
ful description of the interior thoroughfares of the 
Dominican Republic. No words could convey 
an adequate idea of their condition ; they have been 
used, worn, and neglected for four hundred years 
and are abominable beyond description. 

Having traversed them, one no longer wonders 
why this marvelously rich land is undeveloped, 
neglected, and much of it absolutely uninhabited 
and unknown. Until the country is provided 
with roads over which it is possible to transport 
goods, it will remain in its present backward state, 
for the lack of transportation facilities is even 
more inimical to its progress than the revolutions. 

The forests are filled with mahogany, lancewood, 
cedar, satinwood, lignum vitas, and other valuable 
timbers; vast groves of long-leafed pine cover the 




A RIDING BULL, SAN DOMINGO 



SANTO DOMINGO, THE HISTORIC i8i' 

interior hills for hundreds of miles and mineral 
riches abound, while every tropical- and many 
temperate-zone products grow luxuriantly. But 
it is hopeless to endeavor to exploit such resources, 
useless to ask capital to invest, when, to haul a 
mahogany log to the coast costs more than a dozen 
logs are worth; when, to get out pine lumber en- 
tails a greater expense than to import such materi- 
als from the States; when the entire revenue of a 
gold mine would be required to provide haulage to 
a copper mine. 

In some districts much has been done to over- 
come this deplorable condition, and from Puerto 
Plata a railway is in operation across the moun- 
tains to Santiago de los Caballeros. Indeed 
Puerto Plata's chief importance lies in the fact 
that it is the seaward terminal of this railroad, 
which taps the vast fertile Cibao district of the 
high interior tableland. And a truly remarkable 
railway it is, although but forty-two miles in 
length, for in the first fifteen miles it climbs a 
mountain range two thousand feet in height by 
grades so steep that four locomotives and rack and 
pinion are required to make the ascent. Even 
then the mountain still towers high above, and 
through it the railway makes its way by a tunnel 
nearly one thousand feet in length, to come forth, 
on the farther side of the range, on almost level 
land. Many years and a vast amount of labor and 



182 THE WEST INDIES 

capital were expended in the construction of this 
road, which was commenced in 1893 and was not 
completed until 1897, during which time it changed 
hands several times, with the result that it is a sort 
of international road, the capital having been fur- 
nished by the Dutch, most of the construction being 
done by Belgians, the bridges built by British, and 
the rolling stock made in the United States, and, 
to complete its cosmopolitan make-up, it is owned 
by the Dominicans and operated by Americans. 

Santiago, the inland terminus of this railway, 
is an interesting and important town in the center 
of the coffee and tobacco district and, with the 
exception of the capital, is the largest city in the 
republic, with a population of about forty-five 
thousand. Originally founded in 1504, by thirty 
Spanish gentlemen of noble birth, or "caballeros, " 
from which fact the city took its name by special 
permission of the king, Santiago has undergone 
many vicissitudes in its four centuries of existence. 
Sacked by pirates, fired by revolutionists, and the 
storm center of innumerable battles, yet it still 
remains a prosperous, wealthy, dignified old town. 
Many of its inhabitants are far from being "ca- 
balleros" to-day, yet there are few of its leading 
families who cannot trace their ancestry in un- 
broken line from the proud hidalgo founders of 
the city, and in many a Santiago home are the 
Toledo blades, the damascened armor, and other 



SANTO DOMINGO, THE HISTORIC 183 

warlike accouterments of forbears who sailed with 
Columbus in his caravels. 

Moreover, Santiago is a "white town," and while 
many of its people are suspiciously brown yet there 
is no hint of the "black republic." But, for that 
matter, this term, as applied to the Spanish portion 
of Santo Domingo, is a misnomer due to ignorance, 
for, unlike Haiti, — which is black beyond words in 
morals, history, and color of its people, — the 
Dominican Republic is not even overwhelmingly 
colored and, save in its coast towns, negroes are 
in the minority and a large percentage of its people 
are of purest Castilian blood. 

A wonderful eye for beauty and health did those 
thirty long-dead Spanish gentlemen possess, for 
they builded their city upon a high bluff overlook- 
ing the broad Yaqui River, in a spot blessed with a 
healthy, delightful climate of everlasting spring. 
Within its confines are three fine churches, a great 
cathedral, a beautiful plaza, the governor's and 
municipal palaces, an institute, and innumerable 
massive, imposing residences, many of which have 
remained unaltered for four hundred years. 

All about Santiago gold occurs, and many of the 
natives make an easy livelihood by washing out 
dust and nuggets from the streams. 

It was in this neighborhood that the Spaniards 
first found gold in quantities. Thinking they 
had discovered the long-sought, fabulous district 



1 84 THE WEST INDIES 

of Cibao, the town of Santo Tomas was founded by 
Columbus in 1494; and the Dons flocked to the new 
land of promise by hundreds. 

Many a vast fortune was made from the Cibao 's 
golden sands, and for many years a steady stream 
of treasure flowed from Hispaniola into the coffers 
of Spain. But to-day Santo Tomas is almost 
forgotten, — an unimportant little town, — no ex- 
tensive mining operations are carried on, and yet 
the treasure is still there and, even by crude, spo- 
radic, native methods, over six million dollars' 
worth of gold is annually taken from the Cibao 
district. 

A short distance from Santiago, and connected 
by railway, is the town of Moca, a city of thirty 
thousand inhabitants and a "white town," with 
the majority of its inhabitants of pure Castilian 
descent, a spot famous for its coffee but other- 
wise of no great interest. 

Beyond Puerto Plata an almost unbroken ex- 
panse of forest-covered mountains stretches to the 
tip of Cape Cabras, and, rounding this, the ship 
enters magnificent Samana Bay, perhaps the love- 
liest body of water in all the world. 

Blue as the azure sky above, the placid lake-like 
bay stretches into the heart of the land till lost in 
the haze of distance. Thirty miles in length and 
ten miles in width is this great landlocked estuary, 
dotted with wooded islets, bordered on the north 



SANTO DOMINGO, THE HISTORIC 185 

by lofty mountains rich with forests, and on the 
south by low rolling land sweeping in vast plains 
and conical hills to the southern coast of the island. 
Sheltered from the winds, protected from the 
waves, and deep enough for the largest ships, 
Samana Bay affords a secure harbor wherein all 
the navies of the world might lie in safety, an 
unequaled spot for a rendezvous and coaling sta- 
tion, a place of great strategic value and which 
our Government once considered purchasing. 

Soon after entering the bay, a tiny cove on the 
northern shore is passed, a wild, deserted, jungle- 
hidden spot, but famous in the annals of history, 
for here a landing party, sent by Columbus, was 
attacked by Indians and the first battle between 
armed Europeans and naked savages occurred. 
Gulfo de las Flechas (Bay of the Arrows) it is 
called, in memory of this trifling skirmish which 
sealed the doom of the aborigines of the Antilles. 

Opposite this little bay, and several miles from 
shore, an emerald islet breaks the surface of the 
bay: a daintily pretty spot, some three miles long 
and a mile wide, rising from snowy coral beaches 
to wooded hills. Cayo Levantado is its name, and it 
is a wonderfully interesting place for those in whose 
veins runs a love for romance and tales of buc- 
caneers and buried treasure, for here the pirates 
built a stronghold, — all but impregnable, — from 
which they defied Spain, France, and Britain alike. 



186 THE WEST INDIES 

To-day, amid the overwhelming vegetation, one 
may still see the ruined houses, water tanks, and 
forts, all hewn from the solid living rock, but now 
deserted, save by the clumsy pelicans which swarm 
by thousands on the islet and rear their young in 
peace upon the silent shores that once echoed to 
the shouts of roistering freebooters, the maudlin 
songs of drunken pirates, and the noise of de- 
bauchery and unbridled license. 

From the loopholes, chiseled by prisoners under 
the sting of the lash, trail flowering vines; great 
forest trees have sprung from the crevices and in 
their growth have riven asunder the walls that 
laughed at shot and shell; the roofless houses, 
where the pirates once made merry and gamed 
away their blood-stained loot, are filled with rot- 
ting leaves and fallen limbs, and the cisterns, from 
which the bold sea-rovers filled their water casks, 
are choked with mold and great gnarled roots. 

Who can say what treasures may not lie hidden 
in the islet's soil? Many a chest of golden dou- 
bloons and silver "pieces of eight" has been landed 
on that snowy strip of sand, many a bale of shim- 
mering silk and cloth of gold has been torn open 
and slashed in pieces with blood-stained cut- 
lasses, to deck ruffianly crews. There, in the 
shade of the sea-grape trees, many a black-hearted 
fiend has quaffed priceless wines ft jeweled chal- 
ices from desecrated altars; up through the 



SANTO DOMINGO, THE HISTORIC 187 

branches of the very trees, that still rear their green 
heights above the isle, have rung the screams of 
ravished women and tortured men, and lazily- 
swinging to their moorings off the beach have 
floated fleets of high-pooped ships with sides bris- 
tling with guns, while from their lofty slender 
spars the Jolly Roger fluttered in the breeze 

Ten miles from the entrance to the bay lies 
Santa Barbara de Samana, a charmingly situated 
town on the shores of a landlocked harbor and at 
the base of lofty hills densely clothed with fruit 
orchards, cocoa groves, and gardens. 

Samana has been Spanish, French, Haitien, 
American, and Dominican in turn, and at one 
period of its existence was even an independent 
republic of diminutive proportions, and the inhabi- 
tants speak patois French and English as well as 
Spanish. Indeed a large proportion can claim 
English as their mother tongue, for they are de- 
scendants of colored folk from the United States, 
who were brought out as laborers when Samana 
was leased to an American company many years 
ago. 

The San Juan Valley, a few miles inland from 
the town, is settled principally by these people who 
are by far the most diligent workers and the best 
agriculturists on the island. They are a prosper- 
ous, contented lot and still retain many of the 
customs and manners of their forefathers, and state 



188 THE WEST INDIES 

proudly that they are of "Yankee abstraction," 
while still funnier is their habit of referring to 
their riding bulls as "bicycles." 

Everywhere about the shores of Samana are 
immense cocoanut groves and millions of the nuts 
are shipped, but the most important crop is cocoa, 
while large quantities of fruits and vegetables are 
grown for the local markets and the visiting steam- 
ships, the Samana navel oranges and the huge 
pineapples, often weighing twenty to twenty- 
five pounds, being famous throughout the 
republic. 

There are no large or impressive buildings in the 
town, the streets are mainly narrow, rough, and 
merely byways, and the majority of the houses are 
wooden shacks, but Samana can boast of several 
important industries and possesses match and 
soap factories, a chocolate factory, etc. 

On the whole, however, it is of little interest, for 
it is of comparatively recent origin, as is Sanchez, 
the next port of call, sixteen miles from Samana, 
at the head of the bay. 

Sanchez is a curious, ragged little town whose 
only excuse for existing is that it is the tide-water 
terminus of the Samana-La Vega Railway. It 
is built upon two hills, — if the term "built" can 
be applied to a place that appears to have been 
dropped, like a handful of seeds, from above 
and whose houses look as if they had found root 



SANTO DOMINGO, THE HISTORIC 189 

and had sprouted wherever they chanced to land 
among the weeds and neglectedvegetation. 

A few houses — the residences of wealthy mer- 
chants and railway officials — are neat, well 
painted, and surrounded with attractive grounds; 
there is a large bare church and a club-house on the 
hilltop, and near the docks are numerous enormous 
warehouses, large stores, and extensive machine 
shops, as well as an immense customs-house and a 
fine steel wharf. But outside of these, Sanchez 
is a misdemeanor and its streets are a felony, for 
they are as crooked, steep, rough, and stony as the 
bed of a mountain torrent, and in rainy weather 
rivers of mud, and it rains most of the time in 
Sanchez. Before the advent of the railway, 
Sanchez was called Las Canitas, which means 
"The Little Creeks," and anyone who has essayed 
to traverse the streets after a rain will agree that 
the town was most appropriately named. Most of 
the houses are ramshackle, down-at-the-heels, 
out-at-elbows hovels, unpainted, weather-beaten, 
and propped up on stilt-like posts to keep them 
from sinking out of sight in the muck, for drainage 
and sanitation are unheard-of luxuries and many 
of the "grounds" are filthy morasses in which only 
the pigs feel at home. In short, Sanchez exactly 
fulfills the popular idea of a town in Santo Domingo 
and which, by every right, belongs across the bor- 
der in Haiti. 



i 9 o THE WEST INDIES 

But despite their slipshod, miserable apology 
of a town the people of Sanchez are a hospitable, 
pleasant, well-to-do lot. Many of the merchants 
are very wealthy, many of their children have 
been educated in Europe or the United States, and 
their houses are luxuriously provided with the 
most expensive cabinet work, the costliest pianos, 
and the most lavish furnishings that money can 
buy, while the women of the Sanchez "four hun- 
dred" wear the latest Parisian gowns, the most 
ultra modes in millinery, and jewels worth fortunes. 
Strange and incongruous as such things appear to 
the northerner, it is typical of Latin America, for 
to the man of Spanish blood his home is literally 
his castle — a community, a miniature kingdom in 
itself. To its fastnesses he and his family retire as to 
a stronghold, and what takes place outside his walls, 
what the character of the surroundings, or who his 
neighbors, are matters which do not concern him 
in the least and which trouble him not at all. 

The railway from Sanchez to La Vega, albeit 
but sixty miles in length, cost an enormous sum, 
and is poorly built and miserably equipped and 
operated, but it carries an immense amount of 
freight and many passengers and is of great im- 
portance, as it affords the only outlet for avast 
area which otherwise would be almost completely 
cut off from the outside world. 

As the trains rarely exceed a speed of eight miles 



SANTO DOMINGO, THE HISTORIC 191 

an hour — with the exception of the "special 
express" trains which at times travel at the terrific 
rate of fifteen miles — and as stops of an indefinite 
time are made at every little village, estate, or 
collection of huts, the railway affords the visitor 
a splendid opportunity to view the country through 
which it passes. 

; And it is most truly an interesting and worth- 
while journey, its only drawback being that one 
is compelled to spend a night in La Vega, which — 
unless one is inured to hardships and the rough 
and seamy side of life or is prepared to forego all 
comforts, luxuries, and many necessities — is a fear- 
some thing to do, for La Vega's accommodations 
for the stranger within its gates are primitive in 
the extreme. 

Close to Sanchez, the Bay of Samana culminates 
in a vast mangrove swamp, stretching across to the 
mouth of the Colorado River and covering an area 
of over one hundred square miles, and within the 
impassable, impenetrable security of this swamp 
thousands of herons, egrets, ibises, flamingos, and 
other wild fowl find a safe refuge. For the first 
nine or ten miles after leaving Sanchez the railway 
crosses this swamp and then crawls forth onto 
rolling, grassy savanna land varied by groves of 
cocoa, islands of forest, and clumps of brush, and 
cut by streams and rivers until it reminds one of a 
jig-saw puzzle. 



192 THE WEST INDIES 

As the train proceeds, the patches of woods 
become more scattered, great solitary trees tower 
above the grassy prairies, and, far ahead, the inte- 
rior mountain ranges may be seen upon the horizon. 

This is the grazing country, and everywhere are 
herds of cattle and droves of horses, upon whose 
backs perch sleek, dignified-looking blue and white 
herons busily gobbling the ticks and flies attracted 
to their mounts. 

Wider and wider become the prairies, fewer are 
the hills and hollows until, on every hand, a vast 
smooth sea of green stretches as far as eye can 
see, lush as a New England meadow, dotted with 
countless royal palms, and with here and there the 
glint of flowing water shaded by gigantic, scarlet- 
flowered trees. It is the Vega Real — the Royal 
Plain — an enormous interior valley over one hun- 
dred miles in length and fifty miles in width and 
fertile beyond belief. One might search the world 
and not find a more beautiful and promising spot 
for the t agriculturist or colonist, or a lovelier place 
in which to dwell. Marvelously rich, plentifully 
watered, with a temperate climate, in which pota- 
toes, wheat, corn, and many other northern vege- 
tables and fruits grow to perfection, covered with 
luxuriant grass and capable of supporting an im- 
mense population, yet this huge upland plain is 
deserted and neglected, — a veritable waste. Here 
and there a tiny hut stands in a little patch of culti- 



SANTO DOMINGO, THE HISTORIC 193 

vated land; a few scattered knots of cattle and 
horses may be seen grazing knee-deep in the herb- 
age, and a lonely estancia or two stand out against 
the green, but otherwise the land is as void of life 
and industry as a desert. 

At frequent intervals, as the train rattles lazily 
inland from the coast, it draws up at wayside 
stations, — mostly straggling, sun-baked clusters of 
one-story houses, with a corrugated iron, box- 
like ticket and telegraph office, a big scale for 
weighing cocoa, and dark stores, whose chief stock 
in trade is a marvelous assortment of liquors, 
and black, ebony-like sticks of the native perique 
tobacco. 

But every station — no matter how small, how 
isolated or God-forsaken — swarms with country 
folk, every man or boy carrying one or more fight- 
ing cocks under his arms. Cockflghting is the 
national pastime, and, as at a moment's notice a 
main may be in order, each male Dominican who 
can buy, borrow, or steal a rooster, goes about in 
readiness to pit his feathered champion against 
all comers. As differences of opinion are liable to 
arise and one never knows when some new aspir- 
ant for political fame or martial glory may sound 
the call to arms, the Dominicans deem it but 
wisdom to be ever ready for any"emergency which 
may arise. 

Surely, if preparedness spelled peace and pros- 



194 THE WEST INDIES 

perity, Santo Domingo would be the most peaceful 
and prosperous of lands, for the natives are ardent 
believers in the popular slogan and carry their 
convictions to extremes. Many a man is seen with 
two machetes, — one the ordinary type, the other 
a long, keen-edged, scimitar-like weapon slung in 
sheath from the shoulder, — a heavy revolver, a 
wicked, dagger-like knife, and, for good measure, a 
rifle or shotgun. And, in a way, the truth of the 
preparedness creed is demonstrated, for, despite 
the fact that most Dominicans are walking arsen- 
als, yet fights and shooting and stabbing affrays 
are far from common. Whether this is due to the 
fact that it is no light matter to go about with a 
chip on one's shoulder when everyone is equally 
prepared for a fracas, whether it is because arms 
and ammunition are so costly that the people can- 
not afford to waste them without good reason, or 
whether the Dominicans are naturally of a peace- 
loving disposition, I cannot say. 

Whatever the reason, most of the blood-letting 
is confined to the sporadic revolutions, and even 
these seem more in the nature of games, for reliev- 
ing the tedium of uneventful lives, than serious 
conflicts. There appears to be little or no real 
animosity between the opposing factors, and I have 
seen two men — who were "sniping" at one 
another from the protection of trees on either side 
of a highway — lay aside their arms, wave white 



SANTO DOMINGO, THE HISTORIC 195 

rags of truce and, advancing to a "neutral zone" 
in the center of the road, smoke a cigarette of peace, 
chat for a few moments, and then resume their 
pot-shooting as nonchalantly as possible. Even- 
tually, their ammunition having been exhausted 
without scoring bull's-eyes on either side, the two 
warriors slouched off in the direction of the nearest 
rum shop, apparently on the best of terms. Dur- 
ing the height of battle it is not unusual for the 
opposing "armies" to lay aside all differences and 
pose for a photographer and after the picture is 
taken resume hostilities. 

As a rule, the loss of life during an insurrection 
is very small, as compared to the number of com- 
batants and the amount of powder burned, for 
although the Dominicans fight viciously and with 
conspicuous bravery at times, yet they are exe- 
crable shots and miserably drilled and equipped. 
But for all their comic-opera attributes the revolu- 
tions have been the curse of the island and have 
kept it where it is to-day. Now that our own 
government supervises the elections, supports the 
legally appointed authorities, suppresses the re- 
volts, and disarms the natives of the republic, it 
is to be hoped that insurrections are a thing of the 
past and that the Dominicans will devote more of 
their time to the arts of peace and give less atten- 
tion to war. 

When the inhabitants of the island discard their 



ig6 THE WEST INDIES 

guns and take up the hoe, when they learn to 
handle the machete as an agricultural implement 
with the same dexterity as they now wield it as a 
sword, then, and not till then, will dawn an era 
of prosperity and progress which will lift Santo 
Domingo to the place it merits. 

At the edge of the Vega Real, where the great 
plain joins the foothills, is La Vega. Behind it 
rise ranges dark with vast forests of long-leafed 
pine and at its feet flows the broad and winding 
Camu River. It is a lovely situation, with a cool 
and healthy climate, for the town is three hundred 
feet above the sea, but La Vega, for all its natural 
advantages, is neither pleasant nor healthy. 
It is miserably neglected, its wide straight streets 
are rough, full of holes and litter; many of its 
houses are tumbling about their occupants' ears, 
and cleanliness and sanitation are conspicuous by 
their absence. The surroundings of many of the 
buildings in the poorer sections of the city are 
unspeakably filthy, and as the river serves for a 
laundry, a sewer for the slaughter house, a dump- 
ing place for slops and garbage, and a source of 
drinking water for the people, it is not at all sur- 
prising that La Vega suffers from fearful epidemics 
of typhoid. 

The pretty little plaza, with its fine public 
buildings and immense cathedral out of all pro- 
portion to the number of inhabitants (about 5000), 



SANTO DOMINGO, THE HISTORIC 197 

is the redeeming feature of the place, but there 
are also many large and handsome residences, a 
very picturesque city gate, some creditable monu- 
ments and statues, a boys' college, and several 
sawmills. On the whole, however, there is little 
enough to attract the visitor to La Vega, although 
near at hand are some most interesting and his- 
toric spots. 

The most important of these is the original 
settlement of La Vega, known as La Vega la Vieja, 
and which was founded by Columbus in 1495. 
It soon became an important and thriving town, 
but was destroyed by an earthquake in 1564 and 
was deserted for the present town site. To-day, 
crumbling ruins mark the ancient town, and here 
the visitor may dig up old coins, bits of armor and 
Toledo blades, in fact, "mining" these old Spanish 
swords is quite an industry among the "paisanos" 
or country folk, and the ancient weapons, which 
helped carve the glory of Old Spain, are often 
seen doing duty as machetes in the hands of the 
Dominicans. 

About two miles from the deserted old settle- 
ment, and about six miles from the present town 
of La Vega, stands the Santo Cerro or Holy Hill, 
a spot greatly reverenced by the natives on account 
of a miracle which is reputed to have taken place 
in 1494. 

It was on the summit of the hill, which rises 



1 98 THE WEST INDIES 

six hundred feet above the plain, that Columbus 
sat at ease beneath a spreading sapodilla tree and 
watched his mail-clad Spaniards butcher the help- 
less Indians while, to vary the spectacle, huge 
bloodhounds were set upon the natives and with 
blood-dripping teeth tore naked savages to pieces. 
With their customary habit, of giving all credit for 
their inhuman victories to an over-patient God, 
Columbus and his companions erected a cross upon 
the hill to commemorate the slaughter wrought, 
and also as a reminder to the aborigines of the 
power of the Christian faith. 

No sooner were the Spaniards safely out of sight 
and peace once more settled down upon the blood- 
drenched plain than the remnant of the Indians 
hurried towards the cross to destroy and revile it. 
And little can they be blamed, for to them the 
cross was but the sign of slavery, torture, fire, and 
sword, and good grounds had they to hate the em- 
blem of Christianity. 

But, as the persecuted natives came near the 
summit of the hill, a female figure descended from 
the skies and stood upon the arms of the great 
cross. Thinking, no doubt, that the apparition 
was but another of their white murderers, the 
Indians shot arrows and hurled stones. To their 
amazement, the calm figure remained undisturbed 
by the missiles passing through her body, and then, 
as it dawned upon them that 'twas no flesh and 



SANTO DOMINGO, THE HISTORIC 199 

blood which stood before them, but a celestial 
visitor, the savages fell upon the earth in adoration. 
To-day a fragment of the cross lies enshrined in the 
great cathedral of the capital, while upon the spot 
where it once stood a church has been erected, to 
which the faithful make pilgrimages from many- 
leagues around, often climbing from base to summit 
of the hill on hands and knees. 

Even without the romantic, historic incident of 
the cross, a visit to the famous spot is well repaid 
by the view from the summit of the hill. 

From here one looks forth upon the richest por- 
tion of the great Royal Plain, a vast carpet of 
green, cut by the silvery threads of winding rivers, 
dotted with tiny huts and gardens of plantains 
and bananas, broken by groves of cocoa and coffee, 
fields of maize and tobacco, orchards of fruit 
trees and countless royal palms, while everywhere 
the scarlet, flamboyant trees blaze, like flaming 
pyres, against the sea of verdure, which stretches, 
north, southeast, and west, illimitable, magnificent, 
beautiful as a dream, to the blue and shimmering 
mountain ranges. 

Southward from Samana Bay, around Engano 
Point, — with Mona rising bare and forbidding 
against the filmy, cloud-like wraiths of Porto 
Rico's mountains, — the ship steams from San- 
chez to Macoris. 

Macoris — or more properly, San Pedro de 



200 THE WEST INDIES 

Macoris, to avoid confusion with San Francisco 
de Macoris, an interior town on the La Vega rail- 
way — is an important port in the midst of the rich 
sugar district of the island. 

The town is several miles from the sea on the 
Higuano River, and here the ships moor to com- 
modious, well-built docks over which the sugar 
from the estates is hauled to the vessels' sides 
on narrow-gauge steam railways. Macoris is 
a flourishing city built on land as level as a 
floor, and, in every direction, there is little to be 
seen save the flat Uanuras covered with cane and 
above which tower the tall chimneys of the big 
sugar mills. The town is well kept, progressive, 
and has a neat, self-respecting appearance, in 
pleasant contrast to Sanchez and La Vega, but it 
is very hot, dry, and dusty. 

The streets are wide and smooth, the houses are, 
as a rule, well built, and the little puffing locomo- 
tives hauling long trains of laden cars, the tugs 
towing the big lighters up and down the river, and 
the steam dredges and the extensive docks lined 
with huge warehouses, give the place a very busy, 
bustling appearance. 

The observant visitor to Santo Domingo cannot 
fail to be attracted by the great numbers of royal 
palms that are seen everywhere. Highly orna- 
mental, with their great dark-green crowns sup- 
ported on ivory-white trunks, these palms give 



SANTO DOMINGO, THE HISTORIC 201 

an intensely tropical touch to the landscape and 
are, perhaps, the most stately of trees. But they 
are even more useful than ornamental and to the 
natives serve almost as many purposes as the 
reindeer to the Laplander. The tender heart of 
the buds is delicious, either cooked or eaten raw 
like salad, and is known as "palm cabbage" 
throughout the West Indies. The dried sheets, 
stripped from the outer portion of the bud, are 
known as " Yagua," which is used in making bales 
for tobacco and other products and also as shingles 
and clapboards for houses. The leaves also make 
excellent thatch, as well as bedding and window 
shutters, and the trunks are split into boards. It 
is not uncommon to see many houses, even entire 
villages, which are built wholly from the royal 
palms without a single nail being used in their 
construction. 

Westward from Macoris about forty miles is the 
capital, — historic, ancient Santo Domingo City, — 
the oldest existing European city in America. At 
the mouth of the Ozama River, upon a high rocky 
bluff, stands the Homenaje, a great stone fortress, 
with its Moorish tower looming high above all else, 
and its dull-red walls seeming to form a portion of 
the cliff on which they rest and whose jagged angles 
and every fissure they follow. Like a grim-visaged, 
red-faced, battle-scarred old campaigner it stands 
above the narrow river mouth and, to one looking 



202 THE WEST INDIES 

upon it for the first time, it seems unreal, a vision of 
the past, as much out of place in our modern world 
as a helmeted halberdier amid a company of khaki- 
clad soldiery armed with magazine rifles. But it 
is thoroughly in keeping with the town over 
which it has stood guard for four long centuries 
and more. 

Within its windowless tower tradition has it 
that Columbus was imprisoned, but history proves 
otherwise, for the great navigator languished in 
chains in Santo Domingo in 1500, nine years before 
the Homenaje was built, and he was confined in a 
smaller fortress on the opposite bank of the river. 
To-day, only ruins mark the spot of the original 
settlement and the prison of Columbus, which, 
erected in 1496 by Bartholomew Columbus, was 
abandoned after being partially destroyed by a 
hurricane in 1502. 

Slowly the ship steams between the two ancient 
historic piles — the shores so close one could toss 
a stone onto dry land on either side — and enters 
the broader river beyond, where, stretching for a 
mile or more along the bank, is the most famous 
city of old new Spain. 

And as one gazes shoreward as the ship moors 
to the docks beside the new and modern customs- 
house, centuries seem to have rolled back to reveal 
a scene out of the dim, forgotten past. 

Rounded domes of ancient type, quaint masonry 



SANTO DOMINGO, THE HISTORIC 203 

cupolas, slender towers, and tiled roofs rise against 
the sky above the city wall. Pink, yellow, and blue 
houses crowd every space, some with overhanging 
balconies, terraced sides, and loopholed battle- 
ments about their roofs, and some with water- 
gates, and all mellowed, softened, ripened with 
four hundred years of blazing tropic sun and 
drenching tropic rains. 

To some the town gives the impression of decay, 
dilapidation, even squalor, and it has been de- 
scribed as a "city out at elbows and whose chief 
thoroughfare is .a way of ruts, pits, and trenches 
inlaid with rubbish and proclaiming the last scenes 
of the 'Rake's Progress.'" 

But this is an exaggeration, the pessimistic view 
of one who must have seen the city after a siege 
of seasickness or during a severe attack of indiges- 
tion. He who looks for the picturesque and an- 
cient, the romance of the past and scenes linked 
with the conquest of the New World, will find this 
"proud and goodly-builded city" so full of charm, 
of interest, and of wonders that its failures, its 
shortcomings, and its faults will be forgotten, over- 
looked, unnoticed. 

There is no denying that the city is far from 
clean, that many a one-time water gate and loop- 
holed terrace are now but dumps for garbage; 
that many a mosaic-paved, colonnaded patio serves 
as a lumber yard or stable; that massive doors, 



204 THE WEST INDIES 

thick studded with great bronze nails and ornate 
hinges, are placarded with handbills; that tiny 
shacks and miserable hovels lean drunkenly against 
walls from whose summit the soldiers of Castile 
strove to beat back the hordes of Drake and Mor- 
gan, and that within roofless cloisters are herded 
horses, goats, and cattle. But we should not judge 
the Dominicans too harshly for their neglect and 
their disregard of priceless ruins of past magnifi- 
cence and grandeur. Familiarity breeds contempt ; 
to those who have been born and reared for genera- 
tions amid such scenes they are of little interest and 
no value, and in our own colony of Porto Rico 
wonderful ruins have been sacrificed with utter 
disregard of their historic value. City walls have 
been torn down to give way to trolley tracks, 
vaulted underground passages have been filled in 
to provide public dumping grounds, ancient lan- 
tern-like sentry boxes have been torn ruthlessly 
from their bastions and thrown into rubbish heaps, 
while the battle-scarred, wonderful San Juan gate 
is an eyesore with patent-medicine advertisement 
and announcements of motion-picture shows. 

And now to return to Santo Domingo. Directly 
above the docks stands an immense black ruin, 
a structure with the form of a palace and the solid- 
ity of a fortress, and in its time it served the dual 
purpose of both. This is the House of Columbus, 
the one time residence of the Admiral's son, Diego, 




THE GATE IN CITY WALL, SAN DOMINGO 




HOMENAJE TOWER, SAN DOMINGO 



SANTO DOMINGO, THE HISTORIC 205 

who, as viceroy of the island, builded his house on 
such massive lines and fortified it so strongly with 
parapets, culverins, and cannon that the King of 
Spain became alarmed and commanded the 
viceroy to set sail for Spain forthwith to explain 
his actions. 

To the right, and near the water's edge, a seamed, 
gnarled, half -dead old ceiba tree struggles to keep 
green its few remaining branches. It is a disrepu- 
table old tree of gigantic girth, but revered by 
the people, for to it, so tradition says, were moored 
the caravels of Christopher Columbus. Whether 
or not the hawsers of the Admiral's ships were ever 
made fast to this identical tree may never be 
definitely established, but the ceiba is surely old 
enough to have served such a purpose, and there 
is no valid reason to doubt the tale. 

Near it is an enormous stone cistern, the Colum- 
bus Well, which has served as a water tank for 
four hundred years at least, and which, if not 
actually associated with the discoverer of America, 
was there when he passed to and from the docks, 
and no doubt his men filled their casks from it in 
preparation for the long voyage back to Spain from 
this wonderful land of Hispaniola. 

Up from the docks a steeply sloping street leads 
to the huge arched gateway in the city wall, — the 
same massive wall, twenty feet or more in thick- 
ness and which completely encircles the city, — 



206 THE WEST INDIES 

which defended the town from its foes for centuries. 
The gaping wounds upon its perpendicular face, 
the rents in its coping, the cracks and shattered 
stones, now half-veiled by creepers and vines, 
may have been made by the shot and shell of 
Drake, of Hawkins, or of Morgan, for many a can- 
nonading, many an assault has it withstood, and 
still it stands, as defiant, as complete, as strong, 
as when first erected near half a thousand years 
ago. 

And as we approach the gateway and pass be- 
neath the arms of Castile and Leon, carven in the 
keystone, we half expect a mail-clad sentinel to 
step from the shadow of the arch and bar our way 
with pike or halberd. But the only sentry is a 
sleepy colored lad, clad in blue denim, his obsolete 
carbine leaning against the wall behind him, a 
machete across his lap, and with drooping cigarette 
between his lips, who is snoring in the shade and 
dreaming blissfully of winning a prize in the next 
drawing of the lottery. 

Beyond the gate we pass between the ruined 
walls of the Columbus Palace on the right and the 
huge, white, modern government buildings, — glar- 
ingly contrasting with the time-softened Moorish 
citadel beyond, — and through a well-paved street 
reach the Plaza Colon. 

Here, in the center of a little park filled with 
flowering shrubs, trees, and palms, is a splendid 



SANTO DOMINGO, THE HISTORIC 207 

bronze statue of Columbus, with outstretched arm 
ever pointing westward ; but somewhat marred and 
rendered theatrical by the figure of a nude Indian 
•maiden in the attitude of inscribing a tablet lauda- 
tory of the discoverer. As the female figure is 
supposed to represent Queen Anacaona, who was 
treacherously hanged by Governor Ovando and 
whose helpless subjects were ruthlessly butchered 
by thousands, it is difficult to imagine why she 
should express any sentiments, other than undying 
hatred, towards him who brought the ruthless 
Spaniards to her fair and peaceful land. 

About two sides of the plaza are busy stores and 
balconied residences, which seem transplanted 
bodily from Mediterranean shores; on the third 
side stand the really splendid Congressional build- 
ings, and on the fourth, directly behind the statue, 
are the massive walls, the tiled roofs, and the 
enormous dome of the great cathedral. 

An entire square and more it covers, rambling, 
more like a fortress than a place of worship, and 
bearing the unmistakable imprint of great age 
in every line and time-blackened stone of its 
structure. 

Commenced in 15 14 and completed in 1540, 
the cathedral is by no means the oldest building 
in Santo Domingo, but it is by far the most in- 
teresting and the most historic, for within its dim 
interior repose the mortal remains of Columbus. 



208 THE WEST INDIES 

Space forbids a detailed discussion of the wan- 
derings of the admiral's bones, from the time the 
great Genoese passed away in Valladolid, Spain, 
until they found a last resting-place within the 
cathedral in the land he loved so well. That the 
supposed remains removed to Havana in 1765, and 
later taken to Spain when the Spaniards evacuated 
Cuba, were those of Diego Columbus and not of his 
father, is a well conceded fact, and the authenticity 
of the Santo Domingo bones has been satisfactorily 
established by the researches of the Italian Gov- 
ernment as well as our own. Guarded by two 
couchant lions, surmounted by a magnificent monu- 
ment of Italian marble and within an ornamental 
urn, is the leaden casket, with its inscription in 
quaint old Spanish: "Discoverer of America, First 
Admiral and Illustrious and Famous Don Chris- 
tobal Colon." But without the monumental tomb, 
without the ashes of him who "gave unto Castile 
and Leon a New World, " the cathedral would be 
vastly interesting, for it is a thing of medieval 
days, a structure such as will never be built again, 
a relic of the days when the Church was the 
mightiest power in the world. Within its confines 
might be housed the population of a small city, 
for it is a building so vast that beneath its groined 
roof are more than a dozen chapels, in each of 
which Mass might be held at one and the same 
time without disturbing the other worshipers. 




TOMB OF COLUMBUS, SAN DOMINGO 



SANTO DOMINGO, THE HISTORIC 209 

A day might well be spent within the cathedral, 
for there is much to see and it is a veritable treasure 
house of old Spanish art, priceless jeweled orna- 
ments of solid gold, wonderful carvings and paint- 
ings by the old masters. The high altar is faced 
with sheets of beaten silver from the island's 
mines and is decorated with gold. There is a 
famous "Door of Pardon," wherein the fleeing 
criminal, who reaches the portal, may claim safety 
and a pardon. In the Capilla Alta Gracia rest the 
bones of Oviedo, the greatest historian of Spanish 
conquest in America. There are paintings pre- 
sented to the cathedral by Ferdinand and Isabella, 
and brought over seas by Columbus, and paintings 
by Velasquez, as well as a Virgin by Murillo. In 
the Chapel of San Francisco there is a huge cross 
of mahogany, nine feet in height and rudely hewn, 
the first cross erected on the site of the cathedral 
and bearing date of 15 19. Peace reigns within the 
dim aisles of the cathedral to-day, but time was 
when the tiled floors were crowded with grave-faced 
men, weeping women, and frightened children, 
when the cries of infants, the wails of women, and 
the groans of wounded men drowned the prayers 
of priests and the chant of friars; when the narrow 
windows were reddened with the glare of flames 
as Drake and his buccaneers pillaged, sacked, and 
burned the town. Experts at destruction that they 
were, yet the English invaders found old Santo 
14 



210 THE WEST INDIES 

Domingo a difficult nut to crack. They took it 
by a clever ruse, it is true, they killed, robbed, 
looted, and destroyed to their hearts' content, but 
they made but little impression on the town as a 
whole. Heaven alone knows what priceless paint- 
ings, what marvelous works of art, what wonderful 
furnishings they destroyed for the mere wanton 
pleasure of destruction. Their chronicler, Thomas 
Cates, mentions the richness of the furniture, the 
number of the paintings, and the luxuriance of 
hangings and tapestries that helped to feed the 
flames, but he also adds that "the houses being 
very magnificently built of stone gave us no small 
travail to ruin them," and he owns, with deep 
regret, that, despite the raiders' most diligent 
attempts, less than one third of the town was 
destroyed. Convinced that to hold the place 
would be hopeless, and no doubt fearing to be 
caught, like a rat in a trap, by the arrival of the 
Spanish fleet, Drake at last agreed to accept a 
ransom and leave the town in peace. With twenty- 
five thousand ducats (about $35,000) in his 
pockets the venturesome Englishman sailed away 
to more promising fields, but he left behind a 
memento of his visit, a cannon ball in the roof of 
the cathedral, which still remains there to this day. 
The oldest church in Santo Domingo is San 
Nicolas, built in 1508 and founded by no less a 
personage than bloody old Governor Ovando, who 



SANTO DOMINGO, THE HISTORIC 211 

hanged the Indian Queen Anacaona and put untold 
thousands of the Indians to torture and the sword. 
Unlike many of his contemporaries, this ill-tem- 
pered old hidalgo made no pretense of maltreating 
the aborigines for Christianity's sake, but killed 
for the mere joy of killing and, not confining him- 
self to the natives, browbeat and oppressed every- 
one with whom he had dealings, not excepting 
Columbus and his brother. 

He must have possessed a conscience, however, 
for, before he died, he repented of his villainous 
ways and, to prove his sincerity perhaps, erected 
the church with its beautiful groined roof, which 
is about all that remains intact to-day. 

Wherever one goes about the city are ancient 
churches, some in ruins, some still in use, and 
all replete with historic interests and associa- 
tions. 

Largest of all is San Francisco, a dominant struc- 
ture on an eminence back of the Columbus House 
and rising above all else. Little more than its 
walls and pillars remain and yet the immense 
stone arches are still intact and span the roofless 
interior, a splendid tribute to the long dead and 
forgotten artisans who built it. Beneath the 
tangled weeds and grass is a tessellated pavement, 
and under the great altar Bartholomew Columbus 
was buried, while at the entrance, "In humility, 
that all who enter may place their feet above my 



212 THE WEST INDIES 

head," rests Ojeda, fellow voyager and bosom 
friend of Christopher Columbus. 

San Miguel, dating from 1520, San Anton, La 
Merced, Regina, and Santa Clara are all worthy 
of a visit, while, most beautiful of all, is Santa 
Barbara, ancient, quaint, crudely primitive, but 
still in daily use and perfect condition. 

But most interesting of all is Santo Domingo, 
erected in 1509 and still an impressive, well pre- 
served edifice. Upon a serpent carved in native 
wood is the pulpit, the altar is beautiful, and there 
are marvelously carved reredos, while beneath the 
foot-worn flooring lies many an old don and 
mailed grandee of Old Spain. Here, in connec- 
tion with the church, was the first university in 
America, a college under the direction of gentle, 
peace-loving, kind-hearted Las Casas. Ever he 
strove to win his fellow countrymen from the ruth- 
less slaughter of the Indians; he gave his life to 
aid the helpless aborigines of the New World, and 
yet he found time to write the only reliable history 
of Columbus's voyages, and here, in Santo Domingo 
University, he taught a century and more before 
the coming of the Mayflower. 

To-day the walls of the college are in ruins, the 
names of those who studied within it are forgotten, 
but ever, in the annals of the bloody days of the 
Conquest of America, the name of Las Casas will 
stand forth, a bright and shining light amid the 



SANTO DOMINGO, THE HISTORIC 213 

black turmoil of cruelty, bigotry, greed, and murder 
that swept the New World with fire and sword. 

Westward from the capital- and seventy miles 
distant is Azua, the last port of call at which the 
steamers touch, and an important town in a vast 
sugar-producing district. 

Founded by Diego Velasquez, conqueror of 
Cuba, in 1504, Azua was first situated three or four 
miles to the south of the present town, but was 
moved because of repeated earthquakes. To-day 
it is a desolate, uninteresting spot, but full of 
historic memories, and, if ghosts walk, the streets 
of Azua must be filled with a brave array of spirits 
of long dead hidalgos, for here dwelt Hernando 
Cortez, Pizarro, Balboa, and many another dis- 
coverer and conquistador whose names are familiar 
to every schoolchild. 

HAITI 

He who has traveled through the Dominican 
Republic, or who has skirted its shores, will have 
been disillusioned as to the popular idea of the 
island; but there is another side to the picture, the 
ugly, black, repulsive side known as Haiti. 
Strangely enough, although the two republics oc- 
cupy the same island and are separated only by an 
imaginary boundary line, much of which is im- 
passable forest, untrod mountains, or unsettled 



214 THE WEST INDIES 

plains, yet the two are as distinct as if on different 
continents. 

On the one side, the people, language, customs, 
manners, and ways are Spanish ; foreign capital is 
welcomed; the natives are hospitable, courteous, 
and — could they stop fighting among themselves 
— progressive. Across the border they are back- 
ward, averse to improvement or civilization and 
look with suspicion and hatred on every stranger 
and all members of the white race, and, in speech, 
manners, and names are French. 

In the Dominican Republic a large proportion 
of the inhabitants are white, few are black, and, 
by the widest stretch of the imagination, it could 
not be classed as more than a light-brown republic. 
In Haiti, on the other hand, the majority are the 
blackest of the black, there are no whites, — save 
the few foreigners who are so unfortunate as to 
reside there for business or other necessary reasons, 
— and light-colored folk are in the minority. 

To go from Haiti into the Dominican Republic 
is, as one traveler expressed it, "like coming out 
of a tunnel into sunlight, " and he who travels from 
the Dominican Republic to Haiti will feel as if he 
had been thrown from the fresh, sunlit air of 
day into a noisome pit as dark as night. No one 
visits Haiti for pleasure more than once, no one 
stops there longer than is necessary; and yet it is 
a rich and lovely land, even more fertile and 



SANTO DOMINGO, THE HISTORIC 215 

luxuriant than its neighboring republic if that be 
possible, and, under other conditions, would be 
idyllic. 

But its cities are crimes, its streets mudholes, 
its ports pestholes, and its people little more than 
savages. And this despite the fact that in past 
days its towns were beautiful, its buildings mag- 
nificent, its boulevards splendid, and its roads 
perfect, while among its sons it has numbered men 
of such genius and fame as Alexander Dumas, 
who was a native of Jeremie. 

It is a living example, an indisputable proof, 
that the negro is unfit to rule, incompetent to 
govern, incapable of progress, and sure to revert 
to barbarism, slothfulness, and savagery if left to 
himself. And this is no reflection upon the negro 
race. The trouble is we expect too much from our 
black brothers. We forget that they are but a 
few generations from jungle-reared savages, that 
the negro to-day bears somewhat the same rela- 
tion to ourselves as did our skin-clad ancestors to 
the conquering Romans when they invaded Britain. 
Under proper conditions, under a wise, just, firm, 
and powerful guiding hand, the negro prospers and 
develops, as witness the British islands, where 
many of the African race rise to affluence and 
prominence. But even there, with every advan- 
tage and encouragement, where no racial prejudice 
exists, the majority of the colored race never rise 




216 THE WEST INDIES 

above the state of laborers, with no ambition, no 
intelligence, no desire for betterment. Their aim 
in life is to do as little as possible to keep soul and 
body together, to bask in the sun, munch sugar 
cane, and spend their days in idleness, rags, and 
ease. Their point of view is that of primitive 
man, the limits of their horizon are bounded by 
rum, food, and warmth, and morality never enters 
their minds, if indeed they know the meaning of 
the word. Despite all their faults they are peace- 
able, law-abiding, and respectful as a rule, and in 
most cases honest, — save when it comes to help- 
ing themselves to fruit, garden truck, or food. In 
many of the islands a case of murder, assault, 
highway robbery, rape, or burglary has never been 
known, and one may travel in perfect safety and 
security everywhere, while a white woman may 
go where and when she pleases without the re- 
motest danger of molestation or even insult. 

But such is not the case in Haiti. Here the 
shortcomings, the failures, the savage instincts of 
the blacks have been fed and fostered for centuries. 
From untamed jungles they were brought in reek- 
ing, pest-ridden slave-ships to serve beneath the 
lash. Debased, untaught, they rose, and, in a 
resistless wave of black, swept the dominating 
whites from the land. Then were loosened all the 
pent-up hatred, the undying lust for revenge, the 
suppressed savagery of the African races, and 



SANTO DOMINGO, THE HISTORIC 217 

slaughter, rapine, incendiarism, torture, and de- 
bauchery stalked naked through the stricken land. 
Led by the more cunning, and no less savage, 
mulattoes, the negroes spared neither young nor 
old, man nor woman, and committed crimes and 
outrages beyond the power of imagination. Then, 
to retaliate, the French also mutilated, flayed, 
roasted, and tortured, and whites and blacks strove 
to outdo one another in the devilishness of the 
atrocities committed until, from end to end of 
Haiti, was naught but burning cities, rivers crim- 
soned with blood, streets choked with corpses, and 
the wails and groans of the wounded, the tortured, 
and the dying. And when at last the awful 
carnage was ended, when pestilence had come to 
aid the blacks in driving the last white from the 
fair island, can we wonder that the civilization of 
the past, the years of prosperity and progress, were 
forgotten, that the Haitiens — steeped in blood, 
gorged with killings, aflame with victory — relapsed 
into the ways of their ancestors, that many of 
them took to the "bush" to live as primitively as 
their forbears in the jungle, that intrigue after 
intrigue, revolution after revolution, murder after 
murder have made up Haiti's history, or that 
to-day Voodooism and Obeah hold sway and in- 
credible things happen in the outlying districts? 
The only wonder is that any vestige of civiliza- 
tion remains, that there is the semblance of rule, 



218 THE WEST INDIES 

of industry, of order, in the republic, and 
that Haiti is not far blacker than it has been 
painted. 

Much has been said of the weird, mysterious 
rites of Voodoo and Obeah in Haiti, many false- 
hoods have been told and many truths denied, but 
that both Voodooism and Obeah are prevalent 
there is no denying. 

But these things are by no means confined to 
Haiti. They are rampant in all the islands where 
the negro race predominates, especially in the 
French colonies and the British colonies that were 
once French. There is a vast difference between 
Obeah and Voodooism, however, — although most 
people confuse the two and have but a vague idea 
of the real meaning of either term. Voodooism is 
a religion brought over with the negro slaves from 
Africa, a form of Devil worship, in which the 
principal deity is the Great Green Serpent who is 
represented by a high priest and priestess known 
as "Papa Loi" and "Maman Loi. " In its most 
fanatical form, Voodooism requires human sacri- 
fices, which are accompanied by cannibalistic 
feasts and unspeakable orgies, but it is doubtful if 
in any of the islands, with the possible exception 
of the interior of Haiti, it is carried to such ex- 
tremes. As a rule, even in Haiti, the "goat with- 
out horns" — as the devotees call the child to be 
sacrificed — is replaced by a young kid, but even 



"SANTO DOMINGO, THE HISTORIC 219 

in this modified form it is a most debasing, dis- 
gusting, savage institution. 

Obeah, on the other hand, is merely witchcraft, 
with no religious significance whatever, and which, 
in its most malignant form, consists of poisoning 
with devilish ingenuity, and, in its commonest and 
least virulent form, amounts merely to a lot of 
nonsense, hocus-pocus, and mummery. But, to 
the negroes, Obeah is a very real and awful thing 
and the Obeah Men and Women, or "Witch 
Doctors," are beings of supernatural power and 
persons to be dreaded and propitiated. 

Such a firm hold has Obeah upon the people, 
that many of them actually are killed by fright 
produced by the "spells" of the Obeah Men. 
And the belief in Obeah is not confined to the 
lower classes, or the ignorant laborers, for many 
merchants and planters — even officials — who are 
intelligent, well-to-do, educated men, are as firm 
believers in Obeah as the most superstitious peas- 
ants and they would not dream of undertaking 
any serious matter without first consulting their 
favorite Obeah Man or Woman. 

The worst phase of this nonsensical, ridiculous, 
despicable black art is the fact that, in order to 
produce the most powerful of their "charms" and 
nostrums, the Obeah Men must employ certain 
parts of human beings, and to procure them they 
often kidnap and murder children. 



220 THE WEST INDIES 

Every effort has been made by the authorities 
to suppress Obeah in the islands. Men and women 
are convicted, fined, and imprisoned constantly for 
practicing the art, and executions are not unusual 
when murder can be proved, but still it thrives and 
holds full sway, for, to the negroes, such attempts 
to stamp out Obeah prove its genuineness. As one 
prominent West Indian merchant put it, "There 
must be something in it if the Government tries 
to stop it. " And, incredible as it may seem, there 
is something in it, for it is an indisputable fact 
that many of the Obeah Men and Women possess 
strange, incomprehensible powers — hypnotic may- 
be — but inexplicable, and, to the natives, super- 
natural. Many such happenings have come under 
my personal observation; reliable and truthful 
Englishmen and white West Indians can vouch for 
many others, and volumes might be written on the 
unsolved mysteries and absolutely baffling oc- 
currences which have taken place, and still take 
place, where Obeah is practiced. 

Despite the deplorable condition of Haiti, de- 
spite the depths to which the country and its 
people have fallen, yet there is much to be seen in 
the republic; but distance lends enchantment to 
the view most literally, and if you would visit 
Haiti, by all means confine your trips ashore to 
the hours of daylight and live and sleep aboard 
ship. 



SANTO DOMINGO, THE HISTORIC 221 

Port-au-Prince, the capital and largest city, is a 
town of some seventy thousand inhabitants on the 
western coast. With every natural advantage of 
situation, climate, and a splendid harbor, yet Port- 
au-Prince is a dirty, wretched, forlorn city. Its 
once beautiful buildings are semi-ruins surrounded 
by squalid huts ; the splendidly laid-out streets and 
squares are filled with holes, pools of stagnant 
water and festering garbage, and ebony-hued 
negroes and negresses add a touch of opera-bouffe 
appearance to the scene by driving and promenad- 
ing the sorry thoroughfares dressed in the latest 
European fashions, with all the lavish display so 
dear to the heart of the African. 

There are a few good buildings in the town, 
among them the National Palace, where the gor- 
geously uniformed negro who chances to fill the 
office of president holds sway. Fronting the palace 
is an unkempt field, known as the Champ de Mars, 
and near at hand is the huge cathedral wherein 
the images of the Saints, and even the Virgin, are 
painted brown and black to match the predominat- 
ing hue of the republic. 

Many of the stores are large and well stocked, 
the offices of the consuls, the steamship companies, 
and the foreign merchants are clean, well kept, and 
attractive, and there are several quite imposing 
buildings, such as the churches, the National 
Foundry, and the schools, for, strangely enough, 



222 THE WEST INDIES 

Haiti, with all its shortcomings, is alive to the im- 
portance of education, and schools are numerous. 

Port-au-Prince possesses tram-car lines and a 
railway extends from the city into the interior, 
while the streets literally teem with licensed cabs 
or "busses," which are a necessity rather than a 
luxury, for, to traverse the rough and filthy 
streets afoot, is like a journey through purgatory. 

Few of the well-to-do Haitiens, or foreign mer- 
chants, of Port-au-Prince dwell in the town, but, 
instead, make their homes at La Coupe, a beauti- 
fully situated suburb about five miles from the 
city and at an elevation of 1200 feet above the 
sea, and which is well kept, attractive, and with 
many really fine residences. 

Westward along the Tiburon Peninsula lies 
Miragoane, at the edge of a mountainous district 
and in the midst of a rich coffee and logwood 
section. 

Still farther west is Jeremie, — famous as the 
birthplace of Alexander Dumas the elder, — a 
sugar and coffee port, as well as the outlet of a 
wonderfully fertile but neglected district. 

On the southern coast of the Tiburon Peninsula 
are Aux Cayes and Jacmel, the first an important 
port for sugar, coffee, dyewoods, etc., and the latter 
of interest mainly as an example of the depths to 
which a beautifully situated town can descend 
when under the irresponsible rule of the black race. 



SANTO DOMINGO, THE HISTORIC 223 

North of the capital, at the foot of the slope of 
the Atribonite Valley, is Saint Marc, a location of 
marvelous scenic beauties, but which figures in 
Haitien annals principally as the frequent battle- 
ground of warring political factions, and the visitor 
who passes it by at a distance will lose nothing of 
interest thereby. 

Farther north on the same bay is Gonaives, 
commercially important for its mahogany, log- 
wood, and agricultural products, while still farther 
north, around the tip of the peninsula and within 
sixty miles of Cuba, is Mole St. Nicholas, with the 
famous pirate stronghold of Tortuga just off the 
coast. Opposite this great island is the town of 
Port-de-Paix, a fairly flourishing port as Haitien 
ports go, and just beyond is Acul, a spot so replete 
with natural beauties that Columbus named it 
Val de Paraiso or "The Vale of Paradise. " 

The last of Haiti's towns upon the northern coast 
is Cape Haitien, commonly known as "The Cape. " 
In former days a center of such wealth, luxury, 
and elegance that it was called "Little Paris, " Cape 
Haitien to-day, has become a ramshackle city of 
hovels which have sprung up, like repulsive fungus 
growths, from the decaying ruins of former 
grandeur. 

Near Cape Haitien is the famous Black King's 
Castle and the Palace of Sans Souci; the former 
the most remarkable structure in the West Indies. 



224 THE WEST INDIES 

The Black King, Christophe, was a personage 
scarcely less remarkable than his castle. A 
negro "general" of the insurrectionists, Christophe 
and his followers were in possession of Cape Haitien 
when attacked by the French under General 
Leclerc, and deeming discretion the better part of 
valor, he fired the town and retreated with his 
"army" to the forest-covered hills. But this was 
by no means the last to be heard of him, for in 
1811 he proclaimed himself King of Haiti, assum- 
ing the title of "King Henry I, " honoring his black 
wife with the title of "Queen," and creating a 
brand-new black nobility consisting of Princes of 
the Royal Blood, three Princes of the Kingdom, 
eight Dukes, twenty Counts, thirty-seven Barons, 
and eleven Chevaliers, every one of whom had 
either been a slave or was the descendant of a 
slave. 

Surrounded by this comic-opera court Chris- 
tophe reigned with all the pomp and ceremony of a 
true sovereign, with nine palaces, eight chateaux, 
innumerable horses and carriages of state, a small 
army of retainers, and an immense bodyguard. 

At the head of the Millot Valley the remains of 
his most imposing palace still stand in the most 
beautiful of settings. Scarcely more than a skele- 
ton, overgrown with jungle, yet its impressive 
size testifies to its one-time magnificence. Here, 
surrounded by every luxury and beauty his 



SANTO DOMINGO, THE HISTORIC 225 

imagination could picture or his money buy, the 
Black King held levee in the days of his short, 
dramatic reign, finally ending his picturesque 
career by committing suicide within the palace, 
and by his last act showing consistency in his 
character by using a bullet of solid silver. 

But the most wonderful and astonishing of 
Christophe's performances was the erection of the 
fortress of La Ferriere, some twenty miles from 
Cape Haitien. On the very summit of the lofty, 
pyramidal mountain, the Black King built a mighty 
fortress with immense walls towering above the 
mountaintop for over one hundred feet. 
i Surrounded by a deep, wide moat spanned by a 
solitary drawbridge, and mounting hundreds of 
cannon, the place was well-nigh impregnable. Even 
more wonderful than the fort itself are the in- 
credible amount of labor and the stupendous out- 
lay that must have been required to level off the 
solid, living rock of the mountain and erect the 
fortress. 

To this lonely mountain peak in the vast soli- 
tary forest every stone and every gun were hoisted 
up the steep slope by gangs of ignorant blacks, 
driven by a pitiless semi-savage monarch, and at 
such a wanton sacrifice of life that the fort liter- 
ally is founded on human bones. 

Within the enormous interior of his citadel King 
Henry stored incredible quantities of supplies and 
15 



226 



THE WEST INDIES 



ammunition and in the massive treasure vault 
deposited a fortune worth over $3,000,000. 

But the fortress might have been a fort of card- 
board for all the value it proved, for the foe which 
Christophe dreaded never came, and the cannon 
on the mountaintop were never called upon to 
defend the stronghold of the Black King. To-day 
the lofty citadel stands deserted, its treasure 
chambers empty, its guns thick with rust, its 
walls conquered by the ever-encroaching jungle, 
but so massive, so immense, so enduring that for 
centuries it will remain a marvelous monument 
to the stupendous folly of the strange character 
who crowned himself the First King of Haiti. 





CHAPTER XV 

PORTO RICO, OUR WEST INDIAN COLONY 

A tumbled mass of hazy, purple mountains 
against the sky; a line of silvery foam, where 
azure sea meets palm-fringed shores; a frowning, 
massive fortress upon a rocky headland, and be- 
yond it buildings gleaming red, yellow, blue, and 
white — such is Porto Rico viewed from the sea. 

Slowly the ship steams beneath the grim, age- 
gray walls of Morro, — still bearing the scars of 
Sampson's shells, — past the low-lying Canuelo 
fort upon its islet, and through the narrow harbor 
entrance. Along the wave-washed, rocky shore 
stretches the great city wall with ancient water- 
gate and lantern-like sentry boxes, while topping 
its further angle is the Santa Catalina palace, 
now the residence of the governor, and above all 
gleam the snowy walls of Casa Blanca, house of 
Ponce de Leon. Scarce is there time to note 
these famous buildings ere the point is passed, 
and San Juan spreads like a many-colored pano- 
rama above the blue waters of the bay. Great 
docks line the water-front, a forest of masts hides 

227 



228 THE WEST INDIES 

the lower buildings, and above them, upward to 
the summit of the hill, rises the bright-hued, 
picturesque old Spanish town. 

Over all, dominant, stupendous, gray, and solid 
as the rocks themselves, towers the vast fortress 
of San Cristobal — a very mountain of masonry 
and which, with the Morro, has defended San 
Juan against all comers for three centuries and 
more. 

Looming in sharp contrast high above the older 
buildings of Spanish type are steel and stone 
edifices of modern architecture, the skyscrapers of 
San Juan, while to the left is the immense new 
Federal Building and to the right the big railway 
station. Through steep and narrow streets, which 
have scarce altered in three hundred years, roar 
clanging trolley cars and honking automobiles; 
gasoline launches puff busily among the lateen- 
rigged sailing boats that savor of the Mediter- 
ranean ; the swarthy faces and babel of Spanish on 
the docks are thoroughly foreign, and yet every- 
where the Stars and Stripes wave over buildings, 
forts, and palaces. Wherever we turn is this same 
strange mixture of the ancient and the modern, 
the present and the past, of sights familiar and 
scenes that are strange, and, stepping ashore, the 
visitor scarce knows if he is in an American port 
or a city of Old Spain. 

Everywhere are color, warmth, and light ; on all 




^ OfrSSuSS**- 3 

<BOQuai.4sJ,A«JlS2O0.ao:wH3>5x>-Nl 



PORTO RICO 229 

sides is a touch of the Oriental; over all is the 
atmosphere, the spell of the tropics, and yet on 
every hand are the evidences of twentieth-cen- 
tury life, business, and progress. Indeed, it is 
this very rubbing of elbows of the old and new 
that is one of the greatest charms of Porto Rico. 

San Juan, despite its age, its crumbling ruins, and 
its quaint, canon-like byways redolent of Old 
Spanish days, is a modern, busy, bustling Ameri- 
can city in many ways, with a fascination all its 
own, and with much of real interest to be seen. 

Up from the docks at the head of the Marina 
leads a typical business street — the Calle San 
Justo. On one side stands the Santa Ana 
church, dating from the sixteenth century, and 
across the way is the imposing building of the 
American Bank three centuries younger, while 
lining the smooth and well-paved thoroughfare 
are shops and stores filled with every article 
known to modern life. 

Between plate-glass display windows are huge 
archways revealing glimpses of dim cool patios 
and passages that hint of mystery; above electric 
signs, advertising graphophones and motor-car 
accessories, are jutting Moorish balconies and iron- 
barred windows, while Yale locks serve to secure 
massive doors through which have entered mail- 
clad knights of Spain. 

At San Francisco Street turn to the left and the 



230 THE WEST INDIES 

Plaza Principal is reached, — an open, paved square 
shaded by beautiful trees and surrounded by large 
buildings and busy stores. On the north stands 
the City Hall, or Alcaldia, built in 1799; to the 
west is the Intendencia Building ; on the south are 
stores belonging mainly to American firms, and 
before them, at the curb, stands a long line of 
waiting automobiles and jitneys ready to whirl 
the visitor wherever he wishes about the 
island. 

In whichever direction one turns there are sure 
to be places and buildings of historic interest. To 
the northwest, the great dome of the ancient 
cathedral looms above the flat roofs, a massive 
structure of severely plain architecture and within 
which rest the remains of the founder of the city, 
Juan Ponce de Leon. 

Not far distant, to the southwestof the plaza, is 
the governor's residence, the palace of Santa Cata- 
lina, with its huge throne-room, audience-cham- 
bers, and mosaic-paved courts and stairways. 
Beyond the palace, and almost directly in front of 
the cathedral, is the immense water-gate in the 
city wall and to the right of this the Casa 
Blanca towers high among its waving palms upon 
the heights. 

Although popularly supposed to have been the 
residence of Ponce de Leon, history does not 
bear out the claim, but points to its having been 



PORTO RICO 231 

erected for the adopted son of the famous searcher 
for the Fountain of Youth and who assumed the 
name of his illustrious foster-father. But, regard- 
less of associations, the Casa Blanca is a splendidly 
preserved type of old Spanish mansion. At the 
summit of the ridge on which the city stands is old 
San Jose church, squat, hoary with age, and 
facing a small plaza, in the center of which is a 
statue of De Leon cast from cannons captured by 
the Spanish from the British, while in the tiled 
roof of the church is the wound made by an Ameri- 
can shell, — about the only material damage done 
to the town when Sampson unsuccessfully tried 
his hand at reducing the Morro. 

But if you would see ancient buildings, by all 
means visit the fortresses of San Cristobal and 
vSan Sebastian, or old Morro, with their mazes of 
underground galleries, their subterranean tunnels, 
their tomb-like dungeons, within which prisoners 
were secured by iron bars across their necks and 
left to die a lingering, awful death. Veritable 
cities in themselves, these vast citadels were 
capable of sheltering hundreds — even thousands 
— of people, and within them the entire popu- 
lation of the city could seek refuge in the olden 
times when foes attacked the town. 

And these are by no means all the sights. There 
are the extensive new market; the pantheon or 
cemetery; the Balleja Barracks, capable of housing 



232 THE WEST INDIES 

two thousand troops; the prison, a model institu- 
tion which is a revelation to northern eyes; the 
splendid old churches, with their wonderful 
decorations, their jewel-decked images, and their 
paintings by old masters; the old monasteries, 
now occupied as police barracks and courts; and 
the Plaza Colon with its beautiful statue of 
Columbus. 

But interesting as is San Juan, it is a hot spot 
during the day, and far more attractive is the 
interior of the island, with its mountain heights, 
its broad, rich valleys, its winding rivers, and its 
fresh, cool, life-giving air. Everywhere are per- 
fect roads, smooth, broad, beautifully graded, 
wonderfully kept, marvels of engineering skill, 
and affording a score and more of fascinating 
tours by automobile. 

Although but eighty-five miles in length and 
thirty-five in width, Porto Rico can boast of 
nearly one thousand miles of highways which 
encircle the island, connect all the important 
towns and villages, and form a network across 
mountains, valleys, and plains over which the 
products and imports of the island are trans- 
ported by bull carts, mule teams, and motor 
trucks. 

Most important and best known of all the 
island's roads is the famous Military Road, built 
by the Spaniards years before the American 



PORTO RICO 233 

occupation, but still the best of the highways and 
leading across the backbone of the island from 
San Juan to Ponce. 

Outward from the busy city streets a splendid 
asphalt boulevard leads past the railway station, 
the Y. M. C. A. Building, the theater, and 
under the frowning walls of San Cristobal, to the 
suburb of Puerto Tierra. Here, in the olden 
days, was the land gate in the city wall, from 
which the suburb took its name, but now no vestige 
of the gate and only isolated fragments of the wall 
remain. At this spot the true Military Road 
begins, and a mile or so farther on it crosses the 
splendid San Antonio bridge, with quaint old San 
Geronimo on its jutting cape at the left and half- 
ruined walls and brush-filled moats on the right. 
Here the island of San Juan is left behind, and 
the mainland of Porto Rico, with the charmingly 
pretty suburb of Santurce, is reached. This is 
the residential suburb of San Juan, a place of 
villas, bungalows, and mansions hidden amid 
flowers, shrubbery, and palms, and with many 
typically American houses, ornately ugly, built 
of concrete and utterly unfitted to a tropical land, 
as well as glaringly out of place amid such beauti- 
ful surroundings. Prominent beside the roadway 
are the buildings of the Union Club, the Miramar 
Theater, and the American Hotel, all charmingly 
situated and with a lovely view across the bay to 



234 THE WEST INDIES 

San Juan on the one hand and past Fort San 
Gcronimo to the open sea on the other. 

Between embowered grounds and splendid 
gardens stretches the wide smooth highway, and 
over it passes a never-ending, fascinating, motley 
stream of traffic — a kaleidoscopic panorama of 
life and color. Galloping horsemen, pannier- 
laden horses, diminutive donkeys hidden under 
great loads of cane or grass, lumbering army 
wagons with six clattering mules driven by khaki- 
clad troopers, snorting, roaring motor trucks, 
creaking bull carts, swift-speeding touring cars, 
whirring motorcycles, and luxurious private 
carriages pass and repass, while threading their 
way between the vehicles, and trudging along the 
narrow footpaths by the wayside, are natives of 
every color, class, and trade. Lean, swarthy 
Porto Ricans, barefooted, but bearing themselves 
with the dignity of grandees, Herculean negroes, 
buxom negresses, some with bundles on their 
heads, come carrying trays, others with baskets 
on their arms, and still others pushing barrows; 
vendors of fruit, bread, vegetables, eggs, fowls, 
ice cream, beverages, and sweets, while queerest 
of all are the funny miniature stores on wheels, 
some in the form of houses, others fashioned like 
steamships, others like trolley cars, still others 
like nothing "on earth, the heavens above or 
the waters beneath," but with the owners of 




STREET IN PONCE, PORTO RICO 



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CITY WALL AND CASA BLANCA, PORTO RICO 



PORTO RICO 235 

each and every one literally doing a pushing 
business. 

White, black, yellow, brown, and olive; men, 
women, girls, and boys — a score of races, count- 
less types, a hundred trades and occupations, 
crowd this great artery, this "King's Highway," 
that leads from the modernized teeming city 
into the vast interior; from the sweltering, glaring 
streets and noisy traffic of the capital to the 
wide free sweep of valleys and the cloud-draped 
mountaintops, for this is the only road leading 
outward from San Juan, and over it passes all the 
overland traffic of the entire island. 

Beyond Santurce the road curves through 
meadows coveredwith cocoanut groves, over the 
beautiful Martin Pena bridge, through the vil- 
lage of Hato Rey, and into the little town of Rio 
Piedras. 

Far more Spanish-American is this little town 
than San Juan, but it lacks nothing in the way 
of modern improvements and has many new and 
handsome buildings, such as the Capuchin Mon- 
astery, the Municipal Hospital, the Insular Nor- 
mal School, and the University of Porto Rico. 
Here also are the reservoir from which the capital 
obtains its water supply, the repair shops of the 
railway and trolley companies, and a public garden 
and botanic park on the site of the old summer 
palace of the Spanish Governor-General. 



236 THE WEST INDIES 

Straight through the town the highway con- 
tinues, and onward across an almost level plain 
beyond, while to east and south the foothills 
rise in broken spurs and conical eminences, becom- 
ing higher and more rugged towards the distant 
Luquilla Range with its purple summits hidden 
in the clouds. 

Soon the road commences to ascend, winding by 
easy grades and graceful curves, in many places 
with an asphalt surface, and slowly climbing 
higher and higher, but so gradually one scarce 
realizes the ascent. Beside the roadway wave 
feathery masses of giant bamboos ; towering royal 
palms shade the way, and through the foliage one 
sees glimpses of deep valleys and steep hillsides 
richly green, while thatched and wattled huts 
nestle amid gardens of plantains and bananas. 
Every moment new and more lovely scenes are 
revealed, until, swinging around a sharp bend 
and rumbling over an ancient picturesque Spanish 
bridge, La Muda is reached. A little later the 
last ridge is topped and the Caguas Valley lies 
below, with the little red-roofed town in the midst 
of cane and tobacco fields bordered by the silver 
ribbons of the Tenabo and Caguas rivers. Caguas 
is a thriving little town of some 25,000 inhabi- 
tants about twenty-five miles from San Juan and 
in the heart of a rich tobacco district. On all sides 
the great thatched drying sheds stand prominently 



PORTO RICO 237 

above the fields which, in growing time, appear 
as if covered with snowdrifts, owing to the immense 
area of cheesecloth stretched above the tender 
plants. 

The streets of Caguas are well kept; there are 
numerous shops and restaurants and two hotels in 
the town, as well as a pretty palm-embowered 
plaza and a picturesque church. 

The low, one-story stuccoed buildings, with their 
roofs of heavy Spanish tiles, give an old, foreign, 
picturesque appearance to the town, but Caguas 
is by no means out of date and has many fine 
buildings, a good library, a hospital, one of the 
finest schools in the island, and some enormous 
tobacco warehouses, while all the streets and 
houses are provided with electric lights. More- 
over, a railway connects the town with San Juan, 
and telephone lines keep it in constant communi- 
cation with all other parts of the island. 

Beyond Caguas, the Military Road crosses a 
fairly level valley through an avenue of gleaming, 
scarlet-flowered poinciana trees which form an 
arch of living flame above the roadway, while 
ahead tower the lofty mountains. Soon the circu- 
lar valley is left behind and again the road climbs 
the foothills and in sweeping, serpentine curves 
ascends the mountainside. 

Ever upward mounts the road, crossing deep 
barrancas on age-old Spanish bridges, skirting the 



238 THE WEST INDIES 

brinks of dizzying precipices, twisting in sharp 
hairpin curves about jutting mountainsides and 
beetling cliffs, while far below are the broad green 
fields, the glistening rivers, and the cultivated 
hillsides. Nowhere is the grade unduly steep, and 
yet, within fifteen miles, the road rises two thou- 
sand feet above the valley. The air is fresh, cool, 
and bracing, and giant tree ferns, gorgeous flowers, 
air plants, orchids and banks of trailing ferns 
grow in profusion beside the roadway. Then the 
last ridge is reached and from the summit 
the road swings quickly down to Cayey with the 
immense military barracks standing boldly forth 
against the background of the smiling valley. ,, 

Although the descent to Cayey is considerable, 
yet the town is at an elevation of 1300 feet above 
the sea and has a cool and healthy climate, where 
coffee and tobacco grow to perfection. But 
while the town is clean, quaint, and picturesque it 
has little of interest, aside from the fact that it 
was at this spot that the advancing American 
troops were halted by the signing of the peace 
protocol while marching to attack San Juan. 

Leaving the rough uneven streets of Cayey be- 
hind, the road once more climbs upward on a 
mountain range even loftier than those already 
passed, and at every turn one marvels at the 
stupendous labor which must have been expended 
in hewing the highway from the mountain slopes, 



PORTO RICO 239 

a marvelous piece of work which will ever remain 
an enduring monument to the skill of the old 
Spanish engineers who built it. 

Creeping around wall-like, towering cliffs at 
the verges of sheer precipices, stretching across 
narrow knife-edged ridges, the road unfolds a 
glorious scenic panorama until at an altitude of 
three thousand feet one looks down upon Aibonito 
sleeping on a green and rolling plain girt round 
with majestic mountain peaks. 

And at the lovely sight one involuntarily 
exclaims, "How beautiful!" the very words which, 
in their Spanish form, — Ai bonitoi — gave to the 
town its name. 

Aibonito is an important coffee and tobacco 
town, with hospitals, schools, hotels, and well-kept 
streets and stores, and situated in its charming 
valley two thousand feet above the sea it possesses 
a delightful, healthy climate; but unfortunately 
the accommodations for strangers are of the most 
primitive description, as is the case in nearly all 
the smaller Porto Rican towns. Hotels there are 
to be sure and every effort is made to please, 
but the cooking is Spanish, the food reeks with 
grease, and the night life of the bedrooms is 
altogether too friendly and attentive. For- 
tunately it is seldom necessary to stop overnight 
in the outlying towns, for the distances be- 
tween Ponce and San Juan, by any route, are 



240 THE WEST INDIES 

not so great that the trip cannot be made in 
a day. 

At Aibonito it seems as if one must be at the 
very roof of the island, but there are still heights 
beyond to be climbed, and through dense groves 
of coffee, riotous masses of flowering shrubs and 
vines, thickets of tree ferns, and deep verdured 
ravines, the road mounts upward until, at Aibonito 
Pass, 3300 feet in the air, the backbone of Porto 
Rico is reached and one looks down on every side 
at a scene of marvelous grandeur. 

Sheer from the narrow ridge, scarce wide enough 
to bear the road, the earth drops off a thousand 
feet and more on either hand. In every direction 
stretch rich green valleys, towering peaks, vast 
mountain heights, and verdured hills. In the dim 
and shadowy depths of cool ravines are glimpses 
of sparkling, foaming torrents; tiny huts peep 
from bowers of fruit trees or perch upon the very 
brinks of awful precipices, and far to the south- 
ward — a line of shimmering blue beyond the far- 
off hazy foothills — sparkles the Caribbean Sea. 

From this lofty aerie all is down hill, and swiftly 
the road dips down in sinuous curves, sharp turns, 
and great spiral, corkscrew twists until, within a 
distance of six miles, Coamo is reached at a scant 
five hundred feet above sea level. 

Coamo, founded in 1606, has a hospital, many 
schools, a pretty plaza, neat houses, and well-kept 



PORTO RICO 241 

streets, and produces quantities of coffee, sugar, 
fruits, and vegetables; but, in a general way, all 
this is equally true of almost any other town, for 
all the interior cities of Porto Rico are much alike. 
There are always the same, straight, smooth main 
street, the narrow cobbled byways, the bright- 
hued, stuccoed buildings with their red-tiled 
roofs, the omnipresent plaza with its immense 
church, and one town has little more of interest 
than the next. 

Near Coamo, however, are the famed Coamo 
Springs, the waters of which possess wonderful 
medicinal properties, and here there are a large, 
splendidly equipped hotel, a sanitarium, and baths, 
surrounded by entrancing scenery and in a glorious 
climate of perpetual June. 

Soon after leaving Coamo, the road passes 
through the little town of Juana Diaz, hence it 
crosses the level coastal plain, — under arches of 
flaming poincianas and between pastures which 
might well be in New England for all they savor cf 
the tropics, — until the outlying streets of Ponce are 
reached. 

Ponce has little of historic interest, but to many 
visitors it proves more attractive than San Juan, 
for it is absolutely different from the capital and 
has a distinctive character of its own and, as 
far as appearances go, it might well be in another 
land. Whereas San Juan is built upon a hillside 
16 



242 THE WEST INDIES 

and there is scarce a level street in the town, Ponce 
is level as a floor and not a hilly street can be seen. 
In the capital, three, four, and even six-story build- 
ings give a modern aspect to the city, but hardly 
a structure in Ponce rises higher than two stories. 
Far more Spanish-American is Ponce than San 
Juan, with buildings of bright hues and massive 
Spanish architecture, shadowy patios, innumerable 
palms and flowering plants, and intensely tropical 
in appearance. And thoroughly tropical is the 
climate as well, far hotter than San Juan, though 
somewhat tempered by the sea breeze that usually 
prevails. 

In the center of the city are a large shaded plaza 
with an imposing cathedral, an ornamental kiosk 
for the band, and a fearfully and wonderfully 
painted, red, blue, white, and black fire-engine 
house, wherein the hand engine and hose carts 
repose in all their glory of red and gold, while the 
"bomberos, " or firemen, loll about, sweltering 
in red flannel shirts, huge helmets, and jack boots, 
expectantly waiting for a fire. 

One really pities these poor Ponce firemen, for 
they are ever ready and waiting for a conflagration 
which rarely occurs, for five fires a year would be 
a record in this town of stone and concrete and 
whose buildings contain scarce enough wood 
to make a respectable bonfire. Surely un- 
limited patience must be the prime requisite 



PORTO RICO 243 

in securing a position on Ponce's fire-fighting 
force. 

There are many magnificent private residences 
in Ponce, a large covered market of great interest 
to strangers, several hospitals and asylums, 
numerous clubs, telephone and electric lighting 
systems, an ice factory, cigar and cigarette fac- 
tories, a hippodrome, a baseball field, motion pic- 
ture theaters, and a splendid theater known as La 
Perla, not to mention the well-stocked stores, the 
numerous restaurants, and half a dozen hotels, 
some of which are excellent. 

Everywhere are flowers and growing plants, and 
scarce a patio, a balcony, or a garden is seen 
which is not gorgeous with blooms, for the people 
are passionately fond of flowers and the climate is 
most favorable to vegetation. So much so, in fact, 
that even the telephone, telegraph, and electric- 
light wires serve as rootholds for orchid-like 
air-plants which give the strands the appearance 
of being decorated with innumerable birds' nests. 

Industrially and commercially Ponce is the 
second city in Porto Rico and is the shipping port 
for the principal sugar and coffee districts, and yet 
the casual visitor sees little that savors of exten- 
sive commerce or business. 

This is due to the fact that the "playa," or shore, 
and the "muelle, " or dock, are nearly two miles 
from the city and reached by trolley or by a maca- 



244 THE WEST INDIES 

dam highway ; but the road is rough and unpleasant 
and the trolley hot and stuffy and, aside from the 
long causeway terminating in the enormous steel 
warehouse and dock, there is little of interest 
at the city's water-front. 

From Ponce, roads lead to various parts of the 
island, and the visitor may travel by motor car or 
railway to many interesting spots. Westward 
a road leads through Peiluelas, Yauco, Sabana 
Grande, and San German to Mayaguez. To the 
north a highway may be followed through Ad jun- 
tas and Utuado to Arecibo, while easterly one may 
travel through various shore towns to Guayama 
and Humacao and from either of these towns 
may turn inland to Cayey or Caguas on the Mili- 
tary Road, or, if preferred, the route may be con- 
tinued completely around the eastern shore of the 
island. 

The steamers of the Porto Rico Line sail around 
the island from San Juan to Ponce and return, 
stopping at Arecibo and Mayaguez, and affording 
excellent opportunities for seeing these two cities, 
but if possible to do so, the visitor should by all 
means see the interior of the island by touring its 
roads, for some of the most interesting places, and 
by far the most beautiful scenery, are far from the 
coast. The Arecibo road is very beautiful and 
passes through some of the few remaining areas of 
virgin forest on the island. Ad juntas, about twelve 



PORTO RICO 245 

miles north of Ponce, is the first town reached 
and is at an elevation of nearly 1800 feet above 
the sea, in a rich coffee district. It is located in a 
lovely valley surrounded by mountains, some of 
which are over three thousand feet in height and 
from whose summits the traveler may gaze north 
upon the Atlantic and, by turning his head, may 
look across the Caribbean to the south, while 
east and west stretches the whole vast panorama 
of the islands, spread like a map of checkered 
green at his feet. 

Utuado, the next town on this road, is in the 
midst of wonderfully grand and imposing moun- 
tain scenery; rugged, majestic, and with many 
naked precipitous peaks projecting far above the 
verdure, while tumbling mountain torrents plunge 
in foaming cataracts amid the luxuriant growth of 
tree ferns, orchids, and strange exotic plants. 

Arecibo is a very old and interesting town, 
founded in 1537, and with a population of about 
ten thousand. It is by far the most typically 
Spanish-American city on the island and was 
formerly surrounded by great swamps and was 
very unhealthy, but the swamps have been 
drained and converted into fertile sugar lands, 
and to-day the town is as healthy as San Juan 
itself. There are numerous stores in Arecibo, 
a very beautiful plaza on the water-front, a 
good hotel, and every modern improvement, 



246 THE WEST INDIES 

and the town is connected by railway with San 
Juan. 

Westward from Arecibo, on the railway line and 
also on the automobile road to Mayaguez, is 
Aguadilla, and, while the road is by no means 
as interesting or beautiful as many others, the 
town is worth a visit, as it was here Columbus 
first landed on Porto Rican soil. He was in 
search of water for his ships, and filled his casks at 
a spring which gushed forth near the beach and 
which he named "Ojo de Agua," or "The Water's 
Eye." To-day the same spring serves to supply 
Aguadilla's people with water and is covered with 
an ornate commemorative fountain. The honor 
of the historic visit of Columbus is also claimed by 
Aguada, farther to the west, but there is little 
doubt that the Ojo de Agua is the original Colum- 
bus spring. But even without its claim to such 
fame, Aguada is of historic interest, for it was 
founded by Soto Mayor, one of Ponce de Leon's 
officers. The first settlement was destroyed by 
Indians, however, although its ruins may still be 
seen. The present town has a population of about 
twelve thousand and is in a rich sugar and coffee 
district, while cigar and hat making are important 
industries. 

As the road from Arecibo to Aguada and Maya- 
guez is not as perfect as one could wish and has no 
great scenic interest, it is wisest to make the journey 




MARTIN PENA BRIDGE, PORTO RICO 




TOBACCO UNDER SHADE, PORTO RICO 



PORTO RICO 247 

by rail, while, if one wishes merely to see Maya- 
guez, it may be visited to best advantage by the 
steamship. 

A few miles south of Aguada, and about three 
miles from the sea, is Anasco, founded in 1773, and 
with about two thousand inhabitants ; it is of inter- 
est solely as being on or near the spot where the 
Indians first discovered that the Spaniards were 
not superior beings. Here, by the Anasco River, 
an unfortunate Spaniard — one Salcedo — fell into 
the hands of the natives and, feeling some doubt as 
to the Europeans' immortality, which they had 
not questioned heretofore, the Indians decided 
to make a test case of Salcedo. They proceeded 
very much after the manner of our own forefathers 
when testing accused persons for witchcraft, 
namely, by holding the poor Don under water, and 
probably arguing that if he was immortal the 
enforced immersion would do him no harm, while, 
if mortal, the means would be justified by the end. 
Needless to say the result of the experiment 
was highly satisfactory to the savages, regardless 
of Salcedo's opinion, and to make assurance doubly 
sure the Indians guarded the body with the great- 
est care until the tropical climate proved beyond 
all question the false assumptions under which 
they had been laboring. 

Mayaguez, the third of Porto Rican towns in 
commercial importance, was founded in 1763 and 



248 THE WEST INDIES 

has a population of some forty thousand inhabi- 
tants. In the minds of many people Mayaguez is 
the prettiest, most attractive, and most picturesque 
city on the island, and there is no denying its 
charms. 

Upon a smiling, fertile plain or "Vega" the city 
stands, facing the deep and well-protected harbor 
to the west and with ranges of wooded mountains 
rich with coffee groves for a background. Beauti- 
fully situated, surrounded by wonderfully fertile 
lands, and with an excellent harbor, Mayaguez 
possesses every advantage, and the progressive 
people of the town have made the best of what a 
bounteous nature has provided. No wonder the 
inhabitants are proud of their town, for they have 
exerted every effort to make their home as beauti- 
ful, as attractive, and as up-to-date as possible, and 
wonderfully well have they succeeded. 

The city may not be able to boast of ancient 
forts, battle-scarred walls and crumbling ruins, but 
its seaside drive along the playa,[its four charming 
plazas, its wide straight streets, its cleanliness and 
modernity make up for all that the town lacks in 
antiquity or historic interest. But there is much 
of real interest in Mayaguez. Its great market- 
place, its numerous churches, its beautiful homes, 
its public library, and its Agricultural Experiment 
Station are all worth seeing and, moreover, the 
town is the terminus of two railroads. 



PORTO RICO 249 

The plazas of Mayaguez are famous throughout 
the island, the three most notable being : Columbus 
Square, with its beautiful statue of Columbus; 
Flower Square, with its glorious wealth of flowers 
and foliage ; and Old Plaza, each of which is differ- 
ent from all the others, each lovely in its own way, 
but all equally neat, well kept, and so clean that 
they would prove models for our own cities to 
follow. 

At Mayaguez the visitor may obtain the best of 
the beautiful drawn work and embroidery of the 
island, the work of the inmates of the convent 
near the town. Here too are found the best of the 
Porto Rican hats, woven from palm and equal to 
many of the genuine Panamas, while in the market 
one may find innumerable native curios and speci- 
mens of handiwork not seen elsewhere on the 
island. 

Southward from Mayaguez, on the line of the 
western railway, is San German, founded in 15 12, 
and named by Diego Columbus, Viceroy of Santo 
Domingo and son of the discoverer. Historically 
San German is very interesting, as it has been 
attacked and destroyed repeatedly by Indians, 
pirates, freebooters, and European foes, and after 
each misfortune it was rebuilt in a different spot. 
As a result the uneasy little town has jumped from 
pillar to post over quite a wide area during its 
troubled existence, but it must have been anchored 



250 THE WEST INDIES 

to its present site for some time, as the ancient 
church, the Convento de Porta Cceli, bears the date 
of 1533, and several other buildings in the town 
date from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, 

Beautifully situated in the hills above a rich 
valley, San German is most picturesque and is 
often called the "City of the Hills, " and moreover 
it is blessed with a delightfully cool and healthy 
climate. Indeed, even the old Spaniards realized 
this and used the spot for the purpose of acclimat- 
ing the fresh troops brought from Spain and, to 
house them, built the huge barracks which still 
remain. 

Old as it is San German is progressive and has 
two banks, eight wholesale business houses, nu- 
merous retail stores, a theater, four hotels, several 
churches, a city hall, a municipal library and 
market, many schools, and modern lighting and 
sanitation. 

Eastward from San German, on the road 
to Ponce, are Sabana Grande, Yauco, Guanica, 
Guayanilla, and Penuelas, of which Guanica is the 
only town of much interest to the casual visitor. 
Here is the immense Guanica Central, one of the 
largest and most important of Porto Rican sugar 
mills, but more interesting to most visitors is 
the fact that it was here that General Miles landed 
with the United States troops when he invaded 
Porto Rico on July 25, 1898. 



PORTO RICO 251 

Traveling east from Ponce along the southern 
coast are many towns, some quaint, others beauti- 
ful, others interesting, and all of which may be 
reached either by motor car or by the railway 
from Ponce to Guayama. 

Aside from the towns, the southern coastal 
plain of the island has much of interest in itself for 
those who really care to see the features of our only 
West Indian possession. This is the great sugar 
district of the island, and broad cane fields stretch 
away to the distant mountains for mile after mile. 
In many places the land is very dry, and immense 
irrigation systems are necessary to insure the 
crops. In this dry district also there are many 
miles of low saline plains stretching inland from 
the sea, and on which grow giant cacti, agaves, 
Spanish bayonet, clumps of coarse grass, and other 
desert plants and which, with the herds of grazing 
cattle, make one think of Arizona or the Mexican 
border, rather than of a Caribbean island. But as 
one travels eastward the fertility of the land 
increases, streams and rivers wind down from the 
mountains, the hills approach more closely to the 
shore, and rich vegetation covers the land until, 
at Guayama, the luxuriant verdure of the tropics 
is on every side. 

Guayama, the first important city eastward 
from Ponce on the southern coast, is a flourishing 
town of some eighteen thousand inhabitants, 



252 THE WEST INDIES 

with many fine buildings, a beautiful plaza with 
an immense pink, domed church, numerous schools 
and busy stores, and is in direct communication 
with San Juan by a line of motor busses which 
travel back and forth over the magnificent highway 
which leads from Guayama to the Military Road 
near Cayey. 

Beyond Guayama on the coast road are Arroyo, 
Patillas, and Maunabo, all wonderfully quaint, 
picturesque, foreign-looking towns, while Arroyo 
is of real interest as being the first spot to use the 
telegraph in Porto Rico, a line having been in- 
stalled there by Samuel F. B. Morse, the inventor, 
while on a visit to relatives who owned a nearby 
sugar estate. Beyond Patillas the road climbs 
a steep cliff, and for several miles the traveler 
skirts the verge of a precipice, with the breaking 
surf and palm-fringed beach beneath and the 
wonderfully blue sea stretching away to the 
wraith-like cloud that marks Culebra Island to 
the southeast. 

Rounding the last cliff, the highway winds down 
to a broad and fertile valley and soon after passes 
through Maunabo. Beyond this quaint and 
picturesquely pretty little spot, the ascent of the 
mountains begins, the roadway winding back and 
forth and roundabout like a huge red serpent and 
affording marvelous vistas of deep gorges, lofty 
peaks, tumbling mountain streams, and flashing 



PORTO RICO 253 

cascades, while through the roadside foliage are 
glimpses of the distant valley and the sea beyond. 

Topping the ridge, the road sweeps grandly 
down to the lovely valley of Yabucoa, past the 
Central Mercedes, and, crossing several rivers, 
enters Humacao. 

Typically, intensely Spanish is Humacao, but 
neat and scrupulously clean, with a charming 
little plaza, wide streets, and substantial buildings, 
among which are numerous stores, several churches, 
a library, and a fairly good and very clean hotel. 
Beautifully situated and full of glowing color is 
the town, with mountains surrounding its lovely 
valley on three sides. Within six miles is the 
ocean, from which the cool trade winds bring 
fresh, life-giving whiffs of sweet salt air, while 
all about are well-tilled fields and neat gardens, 
the whole presenting an effect of prosperity and 
contentment which is very pleasing. 

From Humacao a road leads to Caguas and the 
Military Road, while another highway encircles 
the eastern end of the island, passing through 
Fajardo, Loiza, and Carolina and finally meeting 
the Military Road at Rio Piedras. 

Although the Military Road is the only direct 
highway out of San Juan, yet one may travel by 
motor car or railway along the northern coast of 
the island to Arecibo or, if traveling by automo- 
bile, the visitor may follow the Comercio road and 



254 THE WEST INDIES 

again reach the Military Road near Aibonito. 
This route affords scenery of unrivaled grandeur, 
a roadway marvelous for the engineering feats 
displayed in its construction, and a trip which may 
be made in a single day. 

Crossing from San Juan by the little ferryboat 
at the Marina, the town of Cantafio is reached 
on the opposite side of the harbor, a typical West 
Indian village surrounded by immense mangrove 
swamps. From Cantafio the way leads over the 
swamps by a high, broad causeway to the town of 
Bayamon, a thriving little city with several fac- 
tories, some fine buildings, and splendid streets 
and of great historic interest. Indeed, Bayamon 
might truthfully claim to be the most historic 
spot on Porto Rico, not excepting San Juan, for 
it was founded by Ponce de Leon himself in 1509, 
and moreover it is close to the spot where the fa- 
mous old knight first set foot on Porto Rican' soil 
and where he made his first settlement, the Villa de 
Caparra. Later this became known as the City 
of Puerto Rico, the capital of the island of San 
Juan de Bautista. In 1 521 the original town site 
was abandoned, owing to its defenseless position, 
and the settlers moved bag and baggage across 
the bay and founded the present city of San Juan, 
while the old name of their capital was bestowed 
upon the island itself. 

All about Bayamon are orchards of grapefruit 




THE MEETING OF THE OLD AND NEW, PORTO RICO 




A MOUNTAIN HIGHWAY, PORTO RICO 



PORTO RICO '255 

and oranges and fields of pineapples, for this is the 
principal fruit-growing district of the island and 
has been wonderfully built up and developed by the 
American planters, whose neat bungalows are seen 
here and there among the trees laden with their 
golden fruit. 

At Bayamon the road forks, the right-hand 
branch leading onward to Arecibo, while the turn 
to the left carries one inland to Comercio. For 
several miles it rises and falls over low-rolling 
hills, until the long iron bridge across the Rio 
Plata is reached. Here the highway commences 
its steady climb up the mountains, following the 
sides of the deep valley and with the gleaming Rio 
Plata tumbling seaward in its rocky bed between 
the emerald mountain slopes. Gradually it mounts 
higher and higher above the stream, until the river 
seems but a thread of silver tracing a devious way 
at the bottom of the gorge. Then, from ahead, 
a strange sound is borne upon the breeze, a distant 
muffled roar and, turning a bend in the road, one 
comes within sight of the mighty dam of the 
Porto Rico Lighting and Power Company, — a 
stupendous, flashing cataract of water pouring 
between verdured hills with the roar of distant 
thunder, while beyond stretches the vast artificial 
lake, placid and calm, with the towering moun- 
tains mirrored on its glassy surface. 

Onward and upward beyond this great hydro- 



256 THE WEST INDIES 

power plant, the highway leads until Comercio is 
reached, a mountain town with the hillsides about 
so thickly covered with royal palms that the spot 
was formerly called Sabana de Palma or "Palm 
Meadow." 

From Comercio the"road winds about the precipi- 
tous mountainsides, piercing jutting promonto- 
ries in wall-sided cuttings, clinging like a twining 
vine to cliffs and spurs, and anon winding and 
doubling by such enormous, circuitous twists that 
one may glance downward at half a dozen tiers of 
roadway upon the slopes beneath. 

When, at last, the devious turns, the mighty 
horseshoe curves, and the innumerable loops come 
to an end and the traveler emerges at the summit 
of the wind-swept mountaintop, he looks upon a 
glorious panorama unequaled in any other part of 
Porto Rico : a marvelous array of rugged towering 
peaks, deep valleys, broad plateaus, and terrific 
gorges of a thousand shades and tints; golden in 
the sunshine, indigo beneath the shadows of pass- 
ing clouds, opalescent, purple, mauve and lavender, 
emerald and azure, while, like a vast red labyrinth, 
the road cuts sharply through the greenery, and 
silver streams and red-roofed villages gleam in the 
abysmal depths of valleys. 

From this most lofty point the road sweeps 
quickly down through groves of coffee, tangled 
jungles of tropic plants, and clumps of royal palms 



PORTO RICO 257 

to Barranquitas. Here, in the center of the 
coffee-covered hills, one needs an overcoat and 
blankets after sundown, for Barranquitas is the. 
loftiest town in Porto Rico and the coolest, and 
even at midday there is no hint of the tropics in 
the air. 

Beyond Barranquitas, through shady copses of 
coffee trees and deep cool jungles of luxuriant 
mountain plants, the way slopes gradually down, 
to come forth at length upon the Military Road 
a mile or two above Aibonito. 

But, to describe in detail all the charming 
sights, the interesting trips, the magnificent scen- 
ery, the wonderful roads, or the manifold attrac- 
tions of Porto Rico, would require a volume in itself. 
Much that the other islands have is lacking ; but 
much that Porto Rico has, no other land can 
boast, and in many ways it offers attractions not 
to be found elsewhere in the world. It is but four 
days' sail from New York — scarcely farther than 
Des Moines, Iowa; there are no bothersome 
customs examinations to be undergone, it is pro- 
vided with every necessity and luxury of modern 
life, it is healthier than any city in the United 
States, its roads are a revelation, it is not volcanic, 
there are no poisonous reptiles, and, best of all in the 
minds of many, it is under our own government, 
our own laws, and our own flag. 

But do not imagine because the island is an 
17 



258 THE WEST INDIES 

American colony that you will feel thoroughly at 
home in Porto Rico. Do not delude yourself 
with the idea that you will be able to converse in 
English with everyone you meet, and don't go to 
Porto Rico puffed up with the importance of being 
an American citizen and expect to lord it over 
the natives, white, black, or brown. 

You will find Porto Rico as foreign, as strange, 
as incomprehensible in many ways as any Euro- 
pean country. You can get along in the towns and 
stores and in the American hotels and business 
houses, as well as on the railways, with English 
alone, but while English is the "official" language 
of the island many officials do not speak it, and 
nearly everyone finds Spanish necessary, while 
not one Porto Rican in a hundred, in the interior, 
can speak or understand our tongue. Even in 
some of the larger stores in San Juan, there is not 
a clerk who can speak English intelligently. 
Moreover, you will find that with all our short- 
comings as colonizers, Porto Rico is governed for 
the Porto Ricans, and he who goes about figura- 
tively dressed in the American flag is looked upon 
with contempt and ridicule by Porto Ricans and 
resident Americans alike. You will not be in 
Porto Rico for long, ere you learn that the Porto 
Rican — white or colored — looks upon the Anglo- 
Saxon race with much the same feelings that the 
Anglo-Saxon regards the Latin and the man of 



PORTO RICO 259 

color, and that to enter their social life, their 
homes — to get a real insight of the Porto Rican 
character — is as difficult a task for the American 
as for the rich man to enter the portals of Paradise. 

Eighteen years have passed since the Stars and 
Stripes first floated above Porto Rico, and while 
great changes have been wrought by our adminis- 
tration, yet much of the old, with its charm — the 
foreign old-world character and picturesqueness 
of Spanish days — remains unchanged. 

In many ways Porto Rico has been American- 
ized, yet, save on the surface, it is as un-American 
as ever. Our sanitation has transformed the 
island from a pest-hole to the second healthiest 
country on the globe; our capital has brought 
industry, progress, and prosperity to the land ; our 
laws have righted many wrongs; our schools have 
educated thousands of Porto Rican children, and 
the natives are thoroughly, sincerely, intensely 
patriotic; but in speech, manners, many of their 
customs, and home life they are still Spanish to the 
core. 

And this is as it should be. We cannot expect 
the traditions, blood, ties, inheritance, and civili- 
zation of centuries to give way, to be tossed 
aside and revolutionized, in a score of years or less. 
The Porto Ricans are of a different race than 
ourselves, and we should not be misled into think- 
ing that any Latin will ever become Anglo-Saxon 



260 THE WEST INDIES 

in ideas, thoughts, manners, or ideals, — we cannot 
graft the palm upon the pine, — and, truth to tell, 
we could learn much to our own benefit and advan- 
tage from our Porto Rican neighbors. 

We have given them much, — for which they are 
keenly grateful, — but we have robbed them of 
much that was dear to their hearts. They wel- 
comed us with open arms when we came unbidden 
to their land ; they have proved loyal, law-abiding, 
worthy, and yet we have failed to treat them as 
equals, or even as equals of the colored inhabitants 
of the United States or the black and brown 
people of Hawaii. 

We have refused them citizenship — the right to 
rule and govern, or even to have an audible voice 
in their own island. No wonder they are more or 
less aloof, no wonder they chafe and feel injustice 
done them, for they are neither aliens nor Ameri- 
cans, but merely "people of Porto Rico." Like 
their island they are legally neither one thing nor 
the other, neither "fish, flesh, fowl, or good red 
herring. " 




CHAPTER XVI 

JAMAICA, THE ISLAND WHERE A PIRATE RULED 

Largest of the British West Indies, and third 
largest of the Greater Antilles, is Jamaica, and 
yet, as compared with Cuba or Santo Domingo it 
is very small, for its area is less than one tenth 
that of Cuba and about one sixth that of Santo 
Domingo. But within its 4200 square miles of 
mountain, valley, and plain is much entrancing 
scenery, numerous peaks a mile and more in 
height, wonderfully rich valleys, magnificent 
forests, great waterfalls and tumbling mountain 
torrents, and tranquil rivers without end; indeed, 
the island received its name owing to the number 
of its streams, the Indian word xamayca signifying 
"a land of springs and streams." 

About the island's shores are many landlocked 
harbors and many busy thriving ports, while rail- 
ways connect the more important towns and the 
opposite shores of the island, and over two thou- 
sand miles of perfect roads cover the surface with a 
veritable network of highways. 

261 



262 THE WEST INDIES 

Of all the islands Jamaica is probably the best 
known and the most frequently visited, and 
yearly thousands of Northerners make the trip 
to Jamaica, or pass the winter months in its balmy, 
tropical climate. To many, Jamaica is distinctly 
a British island, but its discovery, its settlement, 
and its start on the road to civilization, prosperity, 
and cultivation, were all due to the Spaniards, who 
remained in possession of the island for 150 years 
or until it was wrested from them by the British in 
1655. As is the case with most of the British 
West Indies, England cannot claim to be anything 
more than stepmother to Jamaica, and the former 
Spanish ownership is still kept green by such 
names as Rio Cobre, Rio Nuevo, Rio de Oro, 
Sabana la Mar, etc., while even the typically 
British "Bog- Walk" is merely a corruption of 
the more euphonious Spanish name, "Boca de 
Agua" (water's mouth). 

While there is nothing unusual about this, — 
for the chronic struggle for supremacy between 
European nations and the kaleidoscopic shifting 
of sovereignty, were common to all the islands, — 
yet Jamaica has the unique distinction of having 
been governed by a pirate, the redoubtable, 
ruthless Henry Morgan. 

Of all the cruel, bloodthirsty, swashbuckling 
sea robbers who sailed the Spanish Main, Morgan 
was preeminently the most atrocious, the most 



JAMAICA 263 

daring, the bravest, and the most famous, or in- 
famous, and despite his rascality and his murder- 
ous, nefarious ways, we cannot help but admire his 
courage, his romantic, adventurous deeds, and his 
marvelous feats. But the supreme triumph of 
his career came when, after his spectacular sack of 
Panama, he was sent, a prisoner, to England, and 
instead of being hanged — as he richly deserved — 
he was knighted and appointed Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor of Jamaica and Commander-in-Chief of the 
British forces in the island. 

No doubt the King of England bore in mind the 
old adage that "it takes a thief to catch a thief " and 
wisely decided that the best man to clean up the 
nest of pirates in Jamaica was the ex-chieftain of 
the corsairs. In this shrewd surmise His Majesty 
was not far wrong, for, to give Morgan his due, 
his word was as good as his bond, and in his new 
position this most dreaded of freebooters wasted 
neither pity nor mercy on his former companions 
and followers, but sent them to the gallows and 
the gibbet most impartially and expeditiously. 

Not only did this pirate chieftain rule Jamaica, 
but the island's early wealth and prosperity were 
built upon the business of piracy, and for many 
years Jamaica was notoriously a rendezvous, a 
resort, and a clearing house of the buccaneers. 
In the city of Port Royal, opposite the present 
capital of Kingston, the pirates, freebooters, and 



264 THE WEST INDIES 

"brethren of the Main" foregathered from far 
and near. 

To this spot they brought their ill-gotten treas- 
ures, chests of plate and golden doubloons, pieces of 
eight and ingots of silver, chalices and candlesticks 
of gold ablaze with jewels, bales of silks and bolts 
of velvets, kegs of rum and casks of wine ; the loot of 
many a ship and galleon, the sack of many a city 
and town, the holy altarpieces of many a dese- 
crated church, jewels wrenched from fingers and 
arms of dismembered living women, and the output 
of many a mine, until, within this little Jamaican 
town, was such a vast accumulation of wealth 
that Port Royal was famed as the richest city 
the world had ever known. 

And here the swaggering, black-hearted crew 
gambled and drank and caroused away the riches 
they had won at cost of untold misery and count- 
less human lives; here debauchery, licentiousness, 
and every form of vice held full sway, brazenly 
flaunting its shame, proud of its sin, until the 
name of Port Royal was blazoned throughout the 
world as all that stood for depravity and vicious- 
ness — the wickedest city that ever disgraced this 
fair earth. 

And then, as though an outraged God could no 
longer permit this blot upon the universe, the city 
was wiped off the map in an instant, when, on 
June 7, 1692, an earthquake shook Jamaica to its 



JAMAICA 265 

foundations, and Port Royal, with three thou- 
sand of its houses, most of its people, and all its 
treasures, slipped bodily into the sea. 

To-day, when the water is calm, the coral- 
encrusted ruins of the old pirate town may be seen 
beneath the sea as one sails over the bay, and the 
negro boatmen tell weird tales of spectral ships 
sailing into the teeth of the wind — riding the crest 
of storms, ever striving to make the lost port, 
while, from beneath the tempest-tossed waves, 
the phantom bells of the cathedral toll the requiem 
for the dead. 

; Across the bay from Port Royal stands the capi- 
tal of Jamaica, Kingston, a city whose foundations 
were laid by the survivors of Port Royal and 
which, in 1907, suffered nearly as much as did its 
wicked predecessor two centuries before. Leveled 
by the awful earthquake, swept with the con- 
flagration which followed, Kingston was scarce 
more than a mass of smoldering ruins — a waste of 
broken stone and dust, a heap of debris, after the 
catastrophe of nine years ago; but the town has 
rapidly recovered, it has been rebuilt, and until 
another tremor levels it again, it will continue 
as busy, prosperous, and important as before. 

Beautiful indeed are Kingston and its harbor as 
the ship passes the sandy palisadoes, with the cocoa- 
palms rising like pillars of a colonnade above this 
golden strip of shore that connects Port Royal 



266 THE WEST INDIES 

with the mainland. At the foot of a sloping plain 
of green, with its feet in the sea, is the city, set in 
an amphitheater of hills behind which rise the 
hyacinthine mountains — a mighty rampart against 
the sky; but its charms are those of the tropic 
flowers which lure insects to their death, a fatal 
beauty, for under the fair green plain and the 
peaceful verdured land lurks the sleeping ogre of 
destruction, the ever-present menace of a cata- 
clysm such as has devastated the island on two 
occasions in the past. 

A city of some fifty thousand inhabitants, 
Kingston is the second wealthiest and important 
city in the West Indies. It is regularly laid out, 
with its streets running at right angles, and is clean 
and well kept, with numerous splendid steel and 
concrete buildings erected since the earthquake, 
but it possesses nothing in the way of interesting 
ruins of past grandeur, no massive structures 
eloquent of a fascinating, romantic youth. Even 
before the earthquake, there was little of historic 
interest in the town, and the few notable old land- 
marks were mostly ruined or destroyed and have 
been rebuilt or remodeled. Among the most 
noteworthy of these was the old parish church, 
built soon after the destruction of Port Royal, and 
within which were preserved the ragged battle 
flags borne by Britain's triumphant warships in 
olden days. Near the altar was a black marble 



JAMAICA 267 

slab, marking the grave of Admiral Benbow, 
while many other notable monuments and ceno- 
taphs were to be seen. The ancient church sur- 
vived the shock, but its tower was rent apart, its 
steeple was left standing drunkenly awry, the 
interior was wrecked, and tons of debris covered 
the resting place of the old admiral. Fortunately, 
the priceless collections of specimens, the unique 
relics, the immense library, and the many art 
treasures in the Institute of Jamaica on East 
Street were saved, although somewhat damaged. 
Here may be seen the old bell from Port Royal, 
which once hung in the church built by contri- 
butions from pirates, among them Morgan him- 
self — a quaint conceit quite in keeping with the 
curiously warped and twisted point of view of the 
buccaneers. Here also are the famous "Shark 
Papers," the papers of an American privateer 
which were tossed overboard by the skipper when 
chased by a British cruiser, and which bobbed up 
at a most inopportune moment, being brought into 
port by another British officer who had found them 
in the stomach of a shark captured off Haiti. 
Solely upon the evidence of these marvelously 
recovered documents the unfortunate captain 
and his crew were convicted. 

Aside from such curious and interesting objects 
there is little to attract the stranger in Kings- 
ton, but, uninteresting as is the city, so far as 



268 THE WEST INDIES 

quaintness, antiquity or historical associations are 
concerned, yet its modernity, its up-to-date con- 
veniences, and its excellent accommodations for 
visitors, place it far in advance of most West 
Indian capitals. 

But Jamaica's attractions, its advantages and its 
fascination are in the island itself, and not in its 
capital, and few visitors remain in Kingston save 
for a short stay or through necessity, for it is 
undeniably hot, while, in the suburbs and the 
hills, within easy reach of the town, one may find 
fresh, cool, healthy air and charming rural sur- 
roundings, delightfully quiet, restful, and beautiful. 

Such a spot is Spanish Town, northwest of 
Kingston, and which for over three centuries was 
the capital of the island. Founded in 1520 by the 
Spaniards, who called it Santiago de la Vega, 
this city of the Dons was renamed Spanish Town 
by the British, who no doubt found the long 
euphonious Castilian appellation a stumbling-block 
for Anglo-Saxon tongues. Save for its name 
there is no hint of Spanish dominion in the town 
to-day, and one looks in vain for vine-grown bas- 
tions, crumbling embrasured walls, massive build- 
ings with arched portals leading to shady patios, or 
iron-grilled, jutting balconies. Instead, there are 
white-painted, green-shuttered villas in charming 
gardens and clean bright streets. Spanish Town 
of to-day is a quiet, sleepy little village, lolling 



JAMAICA 269 

upon the sunny land beside the Rio Cobre, and 
seemingly enjoying the delightful occupation of 
doing absolutely nothing, quite as much as the 
languid colored folk who doze at the doorways 
of their little huts. 

In the center of the town, quite after the style 
of every self-respecting Spanish city, is a little plaza 
containing a market-place and a prim little garden 
within an iron railing, and surrounded by the larger 
and more important buildings of the one-time 
capital. On one side is the House of Assembly, 
and across the way is King's House, a colonial, 
mansion-like structure of red brick with white 
painted pillars supporting a heavy portico. Here 
also is the Rodney monument, an octagonal Greek 
temple, flanked by a colonnade of Ionic columns 
and containing a statue of the famous British 
admiral who won the memorable victory over 
De Grasse, off Dominica, and established British 
supremacy in the Caribbean for all time. The 
statue, made by Bacon, and by some considered 
a masterpiece, represents England's naval hero 
bareheaded, naked to the waist, and clad only 
in toga and kilt and with one hand resting upon 
a shield and sword. No doubt the sculptor in- 
tended to make the figure heroic in this classic 
pose, but somehow the unmistakably British 
features of the doughty old sea-dog fail to lend 
themselves to the part and the admiral appears far 



270 THE WEST INDIES 

more as if emerging from a Turkish bath, with a 
towel about his middle, than like a noble Roman. 

In the suburbs of the town stands the oldest 
church on the island and the sole remaining relic 
of Spanish days in the neighborhood. This is the 
English Cathedral, built by the Spaniards, a 
structure of faded pink brick with a white wooden 
steeple and which is literally floored with tomb- 
stones. Here rest the bones of many of the most 
famous and aristocratic personages of Jamaica's 
early British days, and whose lives and virtues are 
extolled in verse and prose on scores of tablets and 
monuments. Some of these are exquisite works 
of art by Bacon, others are elaborate with coats-of- 
arms and classic designs, while some of the epi- 
taphs are very quaint and amusing, as for example, 
one above the grave of an officer who came over 
with Penn and Venables and who "died amid 
great'applause, " if we are to believe the inscription. 

Both the old church and Rodney's monument, 
as well as the other old buildings, were seriously 
injured in the earthquake of 1907, for the town 
was badly shaken and many residences were 
destroyed, but the total damage was very light 
as compared with that in Kingston. 

As Spanish Town possesses an excellent hotel, 
a protracted stay may be made here and much of 
beauty and interest may be seen in the neighbor- 
hood. Among the attractive spots in the vicinity 



JAMAICA 271 

is the famous Bog Walk, one of the most pictur- 
esque and beautiful bits of Jamaica. On the way 
from Spanish Town to the Bog Walk one sees 
the dam and power plant of the West Indies 
Electric Company which furnishes the power for 
the street railways of the capital. While the 
utility and necessity of the plant are unquestion- 
able, it is regrettable that the fascinating beauty 
of the lovely Rio Cobre should be ruined by this 
unlovely work of man. As someone has most 
happily expressed it, the Rio Cobre is the most 
praised and most damned stream in Jamaica! 

Six miles from Bog Walk station is the remark- 
able natural bridge across the Rio de Oro, where 
the sides of the deep canon, through which the 
stream has hewn its course, meet in an arch 
capped by a single stupendous slab of rock sixty 
feet above the river. 

Also within easy reach of Spanish Town, about 
ten miles distant, is Old Harbor Bay, the spot 
where the Spanish, under Esquivel, first landed 
on the island. Here stands the ancient Tama- 
rind Tree Church which tradition claims was 
erected by order of Diego Columbus and which, 
if true, would make this church the oldest and most 
interesting relic of Spanish dominion in Jamaica. 

Even nearer the capital than Spanish Town are 
many delightful places where the visitor may 
tarry. A trolley from Kingston passes through 



272 THE WEST INDIES 

the valley to Half -Way-Tree, three miles from the 
town, and along the route are residences of many 
of the well-to-do of Kingston who dwell in this 
delightful suburban district. Half- Way-Tree is 
so called as it is half way to the Constant Spring 
Hotel at the foot of the Blue Mountains, and 
nearly six hundred feet above the sea. Two miles 
beyond Half-Way-Tree is King's House, the 
residence of the Governor-General, a splendid 
mansion amid magnificent grounds and with a 
ballroom costing $25,000. The earthquake played 
havoc with King's House, the only habitable por- 
tion remaining after the shock being the bungalow 
occupied by the Governor's secretary, but like the 
other ruined government buildings it was rebuilt 
better than before. 

Also within easy reach of Kingston by trolley or 
motor car are the Hope and Castleton Gardens ; the 
former about five miles from the city and seven 
hundred feet above the sea. This magnificent 
botanic or agricultural station covers 220 acres 
and affords a wonderful opportunity to study 
the great variety of native, as well as introduced, 
plants, flowers, and trees, especially those of 
industrial or economic value. 

Castleton Gardens are farther away, some nine- 
teen miles from Kingston, and a carriage or motor 
car must be hired for the trip. The start should 
preferably be made early in the day, for the first 



JAMAICA 273 

few miles of road are very hot and dusty, but very 
soon the shade of the forest is reached and, as 
the highway climbs upward, the air becomes cool 
and refreshing. Castleton is nearly five hundred 
feet above the sea and was established nearly 
sixty years ago. Not only are the gardens wonder- 
fully interesting for the wealth and variety of their 
vegetation, but there are arbors, benches, and 
bathing pools on the grounds, and near at hand 
are an excellent hotel and dining-room, as well 
as numerous charming cottages which may be 
rented. 

Still another short trip from Kingston is that to 
Gordon Town, nine miles distant, and nearly one 
thousand feet above sea level. The road winds for 
miles along the banks of the Hope River, a tum- 
bling stream flowing through picturesque scenery, 
with tropic foliage covering the hillsides and flow- 
ing over to submerge the valleys and ravines with a 
flood of green, while flowering vines clamber over 
roadside rocks and bushes, and giant creepers hang 
in mile-long festoons over the verges of the mighty 
cliffs. Gordon Town is but a village, a country 
resort of cottages, and a favorite residential spot 
for many of Kingston's business men. There 
are accommodations here for the stranger, and 
one may pass a most enjoyable time, rambling 
through the hills covered with their coffee and 
cacao groves, climbing the heights, or making short 
18 



274 THE WEST INDIES 

excursions to neighboring places of wonderful 
scenic beauty. 

A visit to Newcastle, nearly four thousand feet 
above the sea, affords an excellent idea of the 
glorious mountain scenery of Jamaica and the cool 
temperate zone of the high altitudes, where north- 
ern flowers, fruits, and vegetables grow luxuriantly 
about the quarters of the officers at the great 
military barracks. Wonderful feats of engineer- 
ing were displayed in building the splendid road 
to this lofty site and from which one may look 
forth upon a scene beautiful and sublime beyond 
description. Kingston, on its plain at the borders 
of the harbor, seems almost underfoot; beyond is 
the slender sickle-like strip of gold and green, the 
palisadoes, tipped by Port Royal, — like a pendant 
gem at the end of a jeweled chain, while east and 
west the shore line stretches for a hundred miles 
in jutting capes, deep crescent coves, and rocky 
headlands rimmed with a silver thread of surf. 

Even farther towards the sky one may ascend, 
until the very summit of the range is reached at 
Saint Catherine's Peak, a mile above the vast blue 
Caribbean outspread for countless leagues to where 
it meets the arching dome of sky. 

But if one desires mountain heights, awe-inspir- 
ing scenery, marvelous views, and does not mind 
roughing it a bit, the ascent of the Blue Mountain 
Peak should certainly be made, for this is the high- 



JAMAICA 275 

est peak in Jamaica and the loftiest mountain 
available for ordinary mortals in the West Indies, 
a cloud-wrapped summit 7338 feet above the sea. 
Here, in the drifting mist of the wind-swept roof 
of the island, one has half of Jamaica at one's feet ; 
a map of a thousand shades of green, cut with 
vast black gorges, flecked with purple shadows, 
dappled with plantations, orchards, fields, and 
cultivated lands, threaded by silver streams and 
winding roads and ringed about by a sea of spar- 
kling blue. Then, as a cloud swirls softly and 
silently about the mountain peaks, the world below 
is veiled from sight, and far and near eddies and 
rolls a boundless sea of white, a billowy waste of 
mist, above which solitary, alone, cut off from all 
the universe, is the tiny bit of rock on which 
one stands. Again the scene changes, and beneath 
the tossing waves of vapor the lightning flashes 
and the thunder peals, the phantasmal sea is riven 
asunder, and from the gray waste rise rock-ribbed 
mountain heights and wet green hilltops. Thus, 
one feels, must the new-born world have seemed, 
when, from the nebulous universe, the land took 
form; thus must Noah have felt, as he looked 
forth from his ark upon the top of Ararat ; and one 
half expects to see great uncouth monsters stranded 
upon the jutting slopes, huge, slimy, writhing 
forms left by the receding flood, until, with a 
sudden burst of light, the wide fair land leaps 



276 THE WEST INDIES 

into view and shreds of vapor, clinging to the 
forest tops, alone remain of the vast, spectral, 
vanished sea. 

Here, upon this sky-piercing summit, the Jamai- 
can government maintains a -hut for the benefit 
of those who desire to spend a night above the 
clouds; but the accommodations are of the most 
primitive description, and it is wiser to descend 
to one of the stopping places at a lower level, such 
as Whitfield Hall, a well-built comfortable house 
four thousand feet above the sea and built over 
two hundred years ago. Strange as it may seem, 
the man who built this house was named Heaven, a 
most appropriate name for one residing among 
the clouds, and members of the Heaven family 
still dwell (or did until recently) in this truly 
Heavenly homestead. 

Among the greatest of Jamaica's advantages 
is the accessibility of all parts of the island. The 
government railway traverses the island from 
north to south and almost from end to end, connect- 
ing Kingston with Montego Bay and with branch 
lines from Spanish Town to Port Antonio, from 
Bog Walk to Ewarton, and from May Pen to 
Chapelton, while two thousand miles of perfect 
automobile roads reach every town and village, 
and coastwise steamers ply between the various 
ports. 

To describe in detail the innumerable drives 



JAMAICA 277 

and rides, the marvelously beautiful scenery, the 
fascinating towns, the mountain resorts, the 
natural wonders, and the manifold attractions and 
interesting spots in Jamaica, would require a mas- 
sive volume; but a brief description of the more 
important towns and scenes and the principal 
railway trips will serve to give the prospective 
visitor some idea of what this glorious island 
offers. 

The most attractive line is, perhaps, that from 
Kingston to Port Antonio, seventy-five miles 
distant. For the first few miles the way leads 
through low-lying mangrove swamps and then 
enters the fertile banana-covered plain of St. 
Catherine, — a country made productive by irri- 
gation, — and from Gregory Park, the first stop, 
to Spanish Town, nothing but a vast billowy sea 
of banner-like leaves can be seen. 

Beyond Spanish Town, the level lands are left 
behind and the train enters the hills through rock- 
walled cuts, and with sharp, jagged peaks rising 
against the sky on every hand. Skirting the steep 
slopes the train dashes through two tunnels, 
swings round a gorge, and enters a tunnel half a 
mile in length, to emerge upon a sunshine-flooded 
scene of wonderful beauty. Below the tracks 
flows the dark blue Rio Cobre, beyond its ver- 
dured banks rise the green walls of the deep gorge, 
and in the background tower the lofty, forest-clad 



2 ;3 THE WEST INDIES 

mountains in range after range of blue slopes and 
sun-bright crests. 

Leaving Bog Walk, where a short branch line 
extends to Ewarton nine miles away, the train 
sweeps into a rolling, hilly district, luxuriantly rich 
with riotous vegetation and countless bananas, 
until Riversdale is reached. Here begin the 
engineering feats which fill the traveler with 
admiration, as, turning and twisting, roaring in 
and out of tunnels, skirting precipices and creeping 
around horseshoe curves, the train threads its 
way through the mountains ; the puffing locomotive 
one moment above one's head upon the hillside, 
the next, below the windows of the car, and seem- 
ingly chasing its tail like a playful kitten. 

Passing Troja and Richmond, the train enters 
the most important banana-growing section of the 
island, the Parish of St. Mary, and as far as eye 
can see there is no break in the smooth green 
sweep of tossing leaves, save where a few fruit 
trees grow about the negroes' huts, their foliage 
rising, like deep-green islands, above the wind- 
swept ocean of pale green. 

Steadily up the steep grade the train mounts to 
Highgate, and then slips gaily down to Albany, 
while all about, the impossible slopes of the hills 
are thick with bananas growing in spots so precipi- 
tous that one marvels that they can bear their 
bunches of fruit without toppling over to the plain 



JAMAICA 279 

beneath. Here and there, thin wire ropes are 
seen, swinging in graceful curves from the hilltops 
to the lowland, and down these cobweb-like 
strands great bunches of bananas come rushing 
through the air to be loaded into the waiting 
trains upon a siding. 

Presently, rounding a wooded hillside, the 
valley of Wag Water comes into view, a lovely 
scene of open, fertile, cultivated lands hemmed 
in by softly shaded blue and purple mountains. 
Over a great iron bridge that spans the tiny 
stream winding through its wide and sandy bed — 
but which in a few hours may become a raging, 
irresistible torrent — the train continues on its 
way and enters the straggling seaside town of 
Anotto Bay. 

From here, the line skirts the shore, revealing 
glorious vistas of plume-crowned palms, in endless 
rows above the creamy beach, and with the long 
line of snowy surf and sparkling turquoise sea 
beyond. Buff Bay, Orange Bay, and Hope Bay 
are passed in turn; Spanish River is crossed, and 
rushing through St. Margaret's Bay, the train 
pulls into Port Antonio. 

Port Antonio, the chief port on Jamaica's 
northern coast, and second only to Kingston, is 
the headquarters of the vast banana industry of 
the island and the shipping port for countless 
millions of bunches of the fruit which has made 



280 THE WEST INDIES 

Jamaica's prosperity — not to mention the few 
odd million cocoanuts and oranges which are also 
shipped from here. From a humble beginning, 
when a schooner load of bananas was sent from 
San Antonio to the States, this industry has 
grown, until to-day Jamaica leads all the world 
in its banana shipments; a business of stupendous 
proportions developed from nothing in less than 
fifty years. 

Situated upon a narrow, hog-backed peninsula 
between two lovely harbors, Port Antonio is a 
beautiful and picturesque spot, with red-roofed, 
green-shuttered houses half-hidden amid palms 
and verdure and backed by hills rising gradually 
to the distant mountains. Most prominent of all 
things in the port is the great hotel, a palatial 
hostelry that appears as if transported bodily 
from Sag Harbor or some fashionable New Eng- 
land shore resort and dropped down amid palms 
and tropic foliage. 

To those who feel lost and ill at ease unless 
surrounded by every luxury, comfort, and formal 
convention of fashionable hotel life, Port Antonio 
will appeal more strongly than any other spot in 
Jamaica. But those who seek the out-of-the-way 
corners, the quaintness and the charm of dreamy 
tropic lands, freedom, and change from our every- 
day life, and those who delight in getting away 
from the beaten track, will find few attractions in 



JAMAICA 281 

Port Antonio with its huge hotel, stiff artificiality, 
idle chatter, tango parties, trivialities, and other 
accessories of a fashionable watering place. But 
there are numerous quiet, unpretentious hotels 
and boarding places in the town, and it cannot be 
denied that the climate is really delightful, the 
bathing excellent, the scenery superb, and much 
can be forgiven and overlooked when such a rare 
combination is found. 

From Port Antonio, also, one may take many 
excursions of interest, such as to Don Christopher's 
Cove near Anotto Bay, where Columbus beached 
his caravels in 1504 and remained a castaway 
upon his own ships for a whole year. A charm- 
ingly pretty spot is the cove, with lovely bathing 
beaches and limpid transparent water, but it is 
doubtful if the marooned admiral and his grum- 
bling crews admired the beauties of Nature so 
lavishly spread about them. 

Threatened by mutiny and faced with famine, 
Columbus and his comrades had a hard time of it, 
until the shrewd Don Christopher succeeded 
in frightening the Indians into bringing provisions, 
by his famous trick of predicting the eclipse of the 
moon. 

Another trip worth while is that to Golden Vale 
and Moore Town, the latter the home of the 
remnants of the once dreaded and powerful 
Maroons. Descendants of runaway slaves, the 



282 THE WEST INDIES 

Maroons for years defied the armies of Jamaica 
and England, and murdered, pillaged, and burned 
at will, until a treaty was made by which they were 
granted freedom and were given 2500 acres of land. 
Although mainly of African blood, yet the Maroons 
consider themselves a race apart and look upon the 
blacks with supreme contempt. In fact, during 
the negro insurrection of 1865 they proved of great 
service in tracking down and killing the rebels. 
Once savage, warlike, and indomitable fighters, 
the Maroons dwell contentedly in their thatched 
and wattled huts at Moore Town, at peace with 
the world, but still proud of the bloody history and 
fighting prowess of their ancestors. 

Very different from the Port Antonio trip is the 
journey to Montego Bay, on the northwestern 
coast of Jamaica, 113 miles from Kingston. 

As far as Spanish Town, the same route is fol- 
lowed as before, and beyond here, to May Pen, the 
train runs across a rolling level country covered 
with guinea grass, cane, sisal, and cotton and 
through the little towns of Hartlands, Bushy Park, 
and Old Harbor. Just before reaching May Pen 
the train rumbles over a fine iron bridge, and the 
traveler is surprised to see nothing but a dry, weed- 
grown, empty river bed without a sign of water. 
But while out of sight, the river is there, flowing 
merrily seaward beneath the earth, for, like many 
other rivers in Jamaica, this Rio Minho has the 



JAMAICA 283 

peculiar characteristic of appearing and dis- 
appearing without the least apparent reason. 
Sinking out of sight it flows for miles through sub- 
terranean caverns, and then bobs up and con- 
tinues on its way, as any respectable stream should, 
and as if tired of playing hide-and-seek. During 
heavy rains, however, the underground channels 
are inadequate to carry off the excess water, and 
the streams rush seaward in foaming torrents 
upon the surface as well as under it. 

From May Pen to Clarendon Park is a district 
of fertile plains, fine sugar estates, and cattle farms, 
while, about Clarendon Park, great quantities of 
fruit are raised, and the train is besieged by 
negresses vending oranges and pineapples, custard- 
apples, mangoes, sapodillas, and other luscious 
fruits of the island. Up the hills through immense 
orchards of oranges, tangerines, and other fruit trees 
the train climbs to Williamsfield, four miles from 
which is Mandeville, a popular mountain resort 
two thousand feet above the sea, and with a splen- 
did hotel and great golf links, in a temperate 
climate of perpetual spring. 

Still ascending, the road passes through Kendal 
and reaches Green Vale, the highest point on the 
line, at an elevation of 1700 feet. Here is the 
Pimento district, and everywhere upon the grassy 
open lands are seen the handsome white-barked 
trees with their dark-green leaves. 



284 THE WEST INDIES 

From the fruit of these the "allspice" of com- 
merce is obtained, the trees of Jamaica producing 
two thirds of the world's supply. From Green 
Vale the train glides down-hill to the rolling low- 
lands, out of the fruit and spice districts, and into 
grassy pastures, banana farms, and cane fields 
to Appleton. Following the course of the Black 
River through cool and dusky glens, past sparkling 
cascades and tumbling rapids, the train winds in 
and out and comes at last into the famous Cockpit 
Country. A wild, desolate land is this, a weird, 
broken, rugged waste of precipitous cliffs and 
conical limestone peaks, tumbled about hit or miss, 
separated by deep ravines and narrow canons, 
and forest clad. Here the Maroons held their own 
against the British troops in days gene by, and 
seeing the spot, one no longer marvels at the feat, 
for few places in the world are better suited to 
savage guerrilla warfare. 

Beyond here are cultivated lands, more of the 
omnipresent bananas, of which, long ere this, the 
traveler will be heartily tired, and one breathes a 
sigh of relief as the broad green leaves are left 
behind, and at Montpellier one sees a wide and 
undulating prairie, broken by clumps of spreading 
trees, while in the shade, or grazing on the thick 
green grass, are hundreds of odd, bluish, hump- 
backed zebus which give a delightful foreign aspect 
to the landscape. Then come the sugar lands and 



JAMAICA 285 

cane fields; the salt tang of the sea is in the air, 
and swinging swiftly around a hillside, the land 
suddenly drops from sight and one looks unex- 
pectedly upon the tranquil waters of Montego Bay, 
with the wooded Bogue Islands sharply silhouetted 
against the crimsoned sunset sky and shimmering 
purple sea. 

Beautiful in its location, surrounded by scenery 
unexcelled for its picturesque variety and luxuri- 
antverdure, with splendid bathing beaches and the 
lovely outlying islets, Montego Bay is unsurpassed 
in its attractions and advantages. Moreover, 
there are excellent hotels and boarding places, the 
train service to Kingston is regular, and all about 
are delightful drives and interesting spots to visit. 

Here, in olden days, came many a Spanish ship 
from Cuba across the way, and here the Dons 
busied themselves in killing the wild hogs that 
roamed the forests about and from which they 
tried out the fat or lard. So important did this 
industry become that it gave the name to the 
bay, for Montego is but a corruption of the Span- 
ish "manteca," meaning lard. 

There are many interesting and beautiful por- 
tions of Jamaica which cannot be visited by rail- 
way, however; but all of these are easily reached 
by motor car or carriage, either from Kingston or 
from towns on the railway line. In fact, Jamaica 
is so well supplied with magnificent highways and 



286 THE WEST INDIES 

is so limited in area that one may tour by auto- 
mobile from coast to coast and from end to end 
of the island and see every important and interest- 
ing spot in a comparatively short time. 

Among the many interesting and attractive 
spots within reach of the highways, but off the 
railway lines, the following should certainly be 
visited : 

Fern Gully, nine miles from Ocho Rios — a 
great ravine literally rilled to overflowing with 
myriads of ferns of every imaginable color, form, 
and size, from gigantic tree-ferns to the tiniest 
"filmies" and the wonderful gold and silver 
ferns. 

Judgment Cliff, two miles from Easington, 
where half a mountain was torn away by the 
earthquake of 1692, and which fell upon and 
destroyed the estate of a notorious Dutchman, 
hence the name. 

The Baths of St. Thomas the Apostle, near the 
village of Bath, forty miles from Kingston, and 
a spot whose hot - medicinal waters have been 
famous for centuries. 

Oracabessa Bay, six miles from Port Maria, the 
place where Columbus first landed in Jamaica, 
on May 5, 1494. 

Rio Nuevo, where the Spaniards made their last 
stand against the conquering British in 1658. 

St. Ann's, with its forests of pimento, or all- 



JAMAICA 287 

spice, trees, its spice-laden air, its rushing streams, 
and dashing cataracts. 

Sevilla del Oro, the site of the first Spanish 
settlement on the island. 

Dry Harbor, where Columbus repaired his leaky 
ships, and the neighboring enormous caverns at 
Cave Hall Pen and which extend for miles under 
ground and have never been fully explored. 

While, of all Jamaica's natural wonders, none are 
more worthy of a visit than its magnificent water- 
falls, the most famous of which is Roaring River 
Falls, a wonderful cascade, one hundred and fifty 
feet in height and two hundred feet in width, and 
which is so surrounded by forest, by trees and 
palms, and so broken up by jutting rocks clothed 
with verdure, that it appears like a series of smaller 
falls, a myriad of cataracts of a hundred forms and 
sizes — a thousand masses of feathery, prismatic 
foam and countless veils of shimmering spray, 
tumbling, dashing, roaring from nowhere into 
nowhere, amid a tropic jungle, and with a noise 
deafening in its volume. 

Another notable cataract, much nearer Kingston 
than Roaring River, is the Cane River Fall in a 
deep gorge about nine miles east of the capital. 
Even on the hottest days of summer, between the 
precipitous walls of the ravine it is deliciously 
cool, the cliffs dripping with moisture, draped with 
ferns and flowering vines, and hung with orchids. 



288 THE WEST INDIES 

At the head of this magnificent canon the mass 
of silvery water falls from a lofty shelf of rock, to 
plunge into a great, rocky, fern-edged bowl. Here 
one may pass behind the cataract and look through 
the opalescent green veil of falling water, and here, 
behind the falls, is a cavern, once the lair of a 
famous brigand known as "Three-Fingered Jack. " 
He was killed by a Maroon in single-handed 
combat, and the victor, to prove his triumph, 
brought in the bandit's hand with the three 
digits. For his services in ridding the community 
of the dreaded outlaw, the Maroon was rewarded 
by a pension of $100 a year for life. Doubtless 
he deeply regretted that there were not more 
three-fingered brigands to conquer, for fighting 
was the favorite occupation of the Maroons, and 
to let the life out of a man in an exciting scrap 
must have seemed a very easy means of earning 
an annuity. 




CHAPTER XVII 

THE BAHAMAS, ISLANDS OF THE PINK PEARL 

Most northerly of the true West Indies, and 
nearest to our shores, are the Bahamas, a scattered 
group of three thousand islands, cays, and reefs, 
and extending from Great Bahama, off Jupiter, 
Florida, to Grand Turk, off the coast of Santo 
Domingo — a distance of over seven hundred 
miles. 

Low, flat, sandy, and barren, of so-called "coral" 
limestone and only semi-tropical in their flora, 
the Bahamas are lacking in scenic beauties, and are 
monotonous and uninteresting in appearance. 
The thin soil supports a certain amount of vege- 
tation, but nothing luxuriantly tropical; the 
verdure consisting of pitch-pine groves, scrubby 
palmettos, tangled thickets of thorny scrub and 
cactus, with the shores ringed by ragged sea-grape 
and sprawling mangrove trees. 

Although the first spot in the West Indies to be 
discovered by Columbus in 1492, yet the Bahamas 
were among the last to be settled, for their re- 

289 



290 THE WEST INDIES 

sources are most meager, and even to-day many 
of the islands are uninhabited, wild, and practically 
unknown, save to the negro spongers, fishermen, 
and squatters who frequent their lagoons and 
coves. 

With the highest elevation scarce three hun- 
dred feet above the sea, and surrounded by thou- 
sands of uncharted reefs and rocks, the Bahamas 
have proved the graveyard of countless ships, and 
for many years were the resort of pirates and 
buccaneers. With the passing of these pictur- 
esque gentry, the islands became the headquarters 
of a less courageous and more degenerate class of 
freebooters — the wreckers, who lured vessels to 
destruction for the sake of loot, or contented them- 
selves with plundering such unfortunate ships 
and mariners as came to grief upon the Bahaman 
reefs. Although piracy is an occupation long dead 
and wrecking is supposedly a thing of the past in 
the West Indies, yet, until a few years ago, the 
Bahamans were not averse to profiting by the mis- 
fortunes of others, and as recently as 1904 a 
number of wreckers were brought to Nassau to 
stand trial for wrecking and looting a yacht on 
Rum Cay. 

Following the piping days of piracy and wreck- 
ing came the more remunerative, and scarcely 
less exciting, industry of blockade-running, and, 
during our Civil War, the islands waxed prosper- 



THE BAHAMAS 291 

ous and the people wealthy through this lucrative, 
if precarious, business. 

But the most important, the most successful, and 
the most praiseworthy industry of the Bahamans 
has been the exploitation of their capital as a 
winter resort for Northerners. 

And despite their lack of scenic attractions, the 
monotony of their landscapes, and their dearth of 
vegetation, the Bahamas can truthfully claim 
attractions which place the islands in the front 
rank of desirable places in which to escape the 
rigors of our winters. 

Not the least of these is the climate, for while 
mainly outside the tropics, yet the Bahamas are 
ever warm, sunshiny, and balmy, while the heat 
of the sun is tempered by the ceaseless, refreshing 
trade winds. Wonderfully equable is the tempera- 
ture, rarely falling below 70 and seldom rising 
above 8o°, and, day in and day out, the needle of the 
recording thermometer at Nassau draws an almost 
unwavering line along its chart. 

Moreover, the sea bathing is delightful ; there are 
excellent fishing and boating; splendid roads cover 
the limited area of New Providence and there 
are unexcelled hotels, every improvement, out- 
door sports of every description, and all the com- 
forts, luxuries, and accessories of the North, not 
excepting the formal social functions, the ridicu- 
lous conventions and the usual inanities and gossip 



292 THE WEST INDIES 

without which fashionable society would find the 
most delightful spot intolerable. To speak of the 
Bahamas and to describe them is really to write of 
Nassau, for the other islands are rarely visited, 
there are no accommodations for strangers upon 
them, and the life, entertainment, business, and 
allurements of the Bahamas all center in the 
quaint town on New Providence, 145 miles 
from Miami, Florida. 

Upon a low hill, barely one hundred feet in 
height, the city of Nassau reclines drowsily in a 
glorious bath of sunshine, and facing the north, 
as if its only interest was in the coming of more 
tourists to keep it from falling fast asleep. 

Above it on the hilltop stands an old gray fort ; 
at either end of the ridge stand others, and between 
them gleam the pink, yellow, and white houses 
with their silvery gray roofs, above which wave the 
nodding palms. 

Wonderfully pretty is the scene, but the great- 
est beauty, the most ardent color, and the most 
striking feature of Nassau is the water that 
stretches from the creamy sand beaches to the 
foam-capped outer reefs. 

Vivid emerald in the shallows, blotched by pur- 
ple above the reefs, cobalt, sapphire, and indigo 
in the shadows, the water shimmers with every 
color of the peacock's tail to where the lavender 
horizon joins an azure sky. 



THE BAHAMAS 293 

Above this wondrous sea, the ship seems sus- 
pended in mid-air and, looking down through the 
crystalline, transparent liquid, one sees the wav- 
ing purple sea-fans and multicolored corals upon 
the distant bottom. And in and out, back and 
forth among the growths, float and dart fishes of 
rainbow hues — fish of silver and of opal, of blue 
and gold, of purple and carmine, of blazing orange 
and burnished green ; fishes striped with black and 
white, mottled with a score of tints, piebald and 
speckled; a veritable riot of living color, unreal, 
impossible — a prismatic phantasy. 

Unlike any other West Indian town is Nassau, a 
plaoe of white coral streets, of huge walls enclosing 
gardens of gorgeous foliage and flowers, of low 
pink and yellow houses capped by weathered 
shingled roofs, of blazing light and purple-black 
shadows, and of indolent negroes in picturesque 
rags. 

Sleepy, languid, almost moribund it seems. No 
one hurries, no one has a care or worry in the 
world; it is a lotus-eating land, despite electric 
lights, motor cars, excellent shops, and great 
modern hotels. 

There are few notable buildings in the town, 
the most important — aside from the hotels — being 
the cathedral, the barracks near the parade ground 
on Marlborough Street, the public library — 
formerly a prison — and the post office, council 



294 THE WEST INDIES 

chambers, treasury, court house, and other govern- 
ment buildings about the square. 

In the square is the famous ceiba or silk-cotton 
tree, one of Nassau's "wonders," but which, in 
any of the more southerly West Indies, would be 
passed by without notice. The Sponge Exchange 
and the Fish Market are also points of interest, 
provided the visitor does not possess a delicate 
nose. 

At the head of George Street, on Mount Fitz- 
william, stands Government House, surrounded 
by eighteen acres of beautiful grounds and afford- 
ing a magnificent view. Here, too, is the statue 
of Columbus, modeled after Washington Irving's 
own ideas and suggestions. Luckily the monu- 
ment is labeled, as otherwise one might well 
mistake it for a statue of some swaggering, swash- 
buckling character of Nassau's past, for, to tell the 
truth, the slouch-hatted figure with toga over 
shoulder looks more like a pirate than like the 
discoverer of America. 

Most interesting of the "sights" about Nassau 
are the old forts upon the hill. Fort Fincastle, as 
the central fort is called, is a quaint structure 
resembling nothing so much as a petrified paddle- 
wheel steamboat. It was built in 1789 and is now 
used as a signal station, and from its walls one 
may obtain a splendid view. But it is most 
famous for the so-called "Queen's Staircase," by 



THE BAHAMAS 295 

which it is approached — a narrow passageway, 
seventy feet in depth and thirty feet in width, 
and cut through the solid limestone rock. 

The other forts, Fort Montague and Fort 
Charlotte, were built respectively in 1741 and 
1788. A splendid view may be obtained from 
either, but Charlotte is the more interesting, as 
it contains many subterranean dungeons and 
passageways, some of which are reputed to extend 
underground to Government House. 

With its three commanding forts overlooking 
the town and harbor, one would think that Nassau 
would have been impregnable in olden times; but 
it has been attacked and taken on several occasions. 

Fort Montague was captured by the embryonic 
American navy in 1776, and was again taken by 
the Spaniards in 1 781. The Dons were driven out 
by Loyalists from North Carolina in 1783, the vic- 
tory being brought about by strategy on the part of 
Colonel Devaux. By sending his boats ashore 
filled with men who secreted themselves on their 
return to the ships, and repeating the ruse a 
number of times, the Spaniards were led to believe 
that a large force had been landed, and after a 
short parley surrendered the fortress without a 
struggle. 

Outside of Nassau, there are perfect roads 
traversing the entire island of New Providence, 
which is about twenty-seven miles in length and 



296 THE WEST INDIES 

from three to seven miles in width. The scenery, 
however, is far from attractive and consists mainly 
of a waste of pitch-pines and untidy palmettos, 
dotted with shallow ponds and practically flat, 
save for the "Blue Hills" which rise to a height 
of 120 feet. 

At Waterloo, however, there is a sight worth 
seeing, the "Lake of Fire," an artificial pond 
some three hundred feet wide and about one 
thousand feet long which is connected with the 
sea by a canal closed by a gate. After dark, 
the pond glows and gleams with phosphorescence 
in a marvelous manner, the boats upon its surface 
leaving a wake of glowing fire, while the water, 
dripping from the oars, appears like red-hot molten 
metal. 

But the most alluring of Nassau's charms is the 
sea bathing. Either in the sheltered coves, where 
the sea is calm, or at Hog Island with its beating 
surf, the water is always tepid, the air is ever 
caressingly warm. And when tired of bathing, — 
if indeed one can ever tire of such a luxury as this, — 
one may doze beneath the shade upon the beach, 
while overhead the palms whisper a drowsy 
lullaby, their drooping fronds rustling like the sil- 
very burble of a woodland brook, or gently 
clashing like the soft patter of raindrops on a roof. 

Far to the eastward of Nassau, at the very 
opposite extremity of the Bahaman archipelago, 



THE BAHAMAS 297 

is an interesting group of islands which, although 
a part of the Bahamas, are under the government 
of Jamaica. 

These are the Turks Islands, the Islands of 
Salt — a^ long low strip of land girt with silver- 
white beaches marred with the blackened bones of 
wrecks. At one end a solitary lighthouse, at the 
other extremity a tiny rambling town of lime- 
stone and wooden buildings, such is Turk's Island 
viewed from the sea. 

Very much like many another West Indian 
town is the port, but in one way Turk's Island 
differs from all other spots, for its sole industry, its 
only revenue, the occupation in which everyone 
is engaged, is salt. 

Indeed, to hear the Turks Islanders talk, one 
would imagine salt was some sort of vegetable, for 
they speak of "raising" so many bushels of salt; 
of "harvesting" the salt, and of a good or bad salt 
"crop." 

Everywhere about the town, along every street, 
covering vast areas of lowland, and filling count- 
less sheds, are tons of salt. Like huge snowdrifts 
the great piles rise high above one's head on either 
side of the roads, while everywhere are donkey 
carts and mule teams laden with the crystals and, 
knee-deep in the glistening heaps, negroes are 
busily shoveling and raking over the half-dried 
mass. 



298 THE WEST INDIES 

Back of the town, upon the lowland, are the 
"salt pans," pond depressions walled off into 
squares of various sizes and depths and connected 
with the sea by trenches provided with gates. 

When salt is to be made, the first series of pans 
is filled with sea-water, by opening the sluice 
gates, and here it is allowed to stand for about six 
weeks, or until the greater portion of the water 
has evaporated. The residue is then led by ditches 
into the second series of shallower "pans" where it 
remains for two weeks more, by which time it 
has become thick and syrup-like in consistency. 
As it will no longer flow freely of its own accord 
it is now pumped, by queer windmills consisting 
of a series of boat sails fastened to a horizontal 
frame, into the last, or drying, pans. Here it 
stands for two or three weeks until crystallized, 
and during that time it is raked, shoveled, and 
tossed about, much in the manner of grass upon a 
hay field, until it is uniformly dried. 

When crystallization is complete the salt is 
raked into piles and shoveled into carts to be 
transported to the salt houses, where it is stored, 
still further dried, and finally ground or crushed 
and packed in bags or barrels, while the "crop" 
to be shipped in bulk is stored in immense piles 
on every available bit of unoccupied land. 

Considering the size of the island a surprising 
quantity of salt is "raised." the annual crop 



THE BAHAMAS 299 

amounting to nearly half a million bushels, while the 
crop on the neighboring Caicos Islands totals about 
a million bushels and Little Turk produces a 
quarter of a million more. 

Notwithstanding this output the Turks Islanders 
are among the most poverty-stricken of West 
Indians, for every article of wearing apparel, every 
stick of fuel, and every bit of food, must be im- 
ported from the United States or the neighboring 
islands. Twice a month the Clyde Line steamship 
breaks the monotony of the people's lives, frequent 
sailing vessels call for salt cargoes, cable communi- 
cation keeps them in touch with the doings of the 
world, and good roads enable those who own 
carriages to drive about. Around some of the 
houses are trees and flowers, even a few palms, 
all carefully brought from other lands and planted 
in soil imported from Santo Domingo. Strangely 
enough the inhabitants are intensely patriotic and 
think their island the finest spot on earth, despite 
the fact that it is quite out of the world, its only 
scenery salt ponds and its only product salt. 




trS'CciJw.-, : V5^. -3--- » 



CHAPTER XVIII 

CUBA, THE "PEARL OF THE ANTILLES" 

South of the Bahamas and stretching along the 
horizon for nearly eight hundred miles lies Cuba, 
historic, magnificent, and vast, the largest of the 
West Indies and the "Pearl of the Antilles." 

Fortunate is the visitor to Cuba who first sees 
Havana from the sea at sunrise. To the left, the 
grim old Morro crowning its rocky headland, to 
the right, the flat-roofed, sleeping town, stretching 
for miles along the shore, while, in the background, 
soft green hills loom mistily against the gold and 
crimson glory of the dawn. 

Bathed in the soft effulgent light of breaking 

day, the many-tinted city seems transformed to 

a bit of fairyland, — unreal, phantasmal, ethereal, 

— beautiful as a dream of Heaven, and as fleeting. 

Above the sea of roofs, blue wreaths of smoke 

float upward from many a newly kindled fire; 

the distant crowing of cocks and barking of dogs 

are borne faintly seaward on the morning breeze; 

a few moving specks of men are seen upon the 

streets, a trolley car rattles noisily along the 

300 



CUBA 301 

water-front ; factory whistles break the silence with 
roaring summons to labor; the ringing call of a bugle 
sounds from the parapets of Morro; upward to the 
summit of the flagstaff flutters the lone-starred flag 
of Cuba, and day has come. 

Under the frowning battlements of Morro, and 
past the silent guns on ancient Punta Fort, the 
ship steams slowly through the narrow strait 
of blue that leads to the harbor, where, swinging 
at their moorings, lying at the massive steel and 
concrete docks — a forest of masts and funnels 
as far as the eye can see — are scores of great 
ocean-going steamers and countless sailing vessels 
flying the flags of every nation. Puffing launches, 
bright-hued rowboats, immense lighters, fussy 
tugs, and swift-moving ferryboats ply back and 
forth in every direction. And, as the traveler 
looks upon this mass of shipping, the busy docks, 
the teeming water-front, the puffing locomotives 
and clanging trolley cars, the towering, smoke- 
belching factory chimneys, and the vast sea of 
roofs, broken by the steel and concrete, many- 
storied heights of modern buildings, he realizes 
that here indeed is a metropolis, a huge, modern, 
bustling city. 

i With more commerce than any other port in 
America, save New York, with close to half a 
million inhabitants, with buildings the equal 
of any in the world, with palatial hotels, boule- 



302 THE WEST INDIES 

vards magnificent beyond compare, theaters, 
among which is the fifth largest in the world, 
stores that are a revelation, and every device, 
invention, improvement, and innovation known to 
the twentieth century, yet Havana is as fasci- 
natingly foreign, as picturesque, as colorful and 
charming, and as strange as any city of the Old 
World. 

Four centuries have passed since Havana first 
sprang into being, four centuries of war and peace, 
of fire and sword, of cruel misrule and triumphant 
freedom, and, while vast changes have been 
wrought, since that day when the banner of Spain 
was hauled from the staff on which it had flaunted 
its red and yellow stripes for so long, still the life, 
the people, the customs, and the atmosphere of old 
Havana remain unaltered. Modernity has im- 
proved it, sanitation has stamped out disease and 
has transformed it from a plague-ridden to a 
marvelously healthy city; the bad has been 
eliminated, but without robbing it of aught that 
was good, lovable, and fascinating, and to-day the 
capital of the "Pearl of the Antilles" is the same 
irresistible, quaint old city as of yore. 

Many of the streets are as narrow as bypaths, 
and lead, like canons dim and cool with shadows, 
between Spanish buildings, the tiled fronts and 
jutting balconies with scarce a dozen feet of space 
between them. 




M roO O 



W-is 



CUBA 303 

Great archways in ponderous walls lead to huge, 
colonnaded patios wherein fountains splash, birds 
sing, and flowering plants fill the air with perfume; 
at windows, barred by hand-wrought iron grill- 
work, dark-eyed, languorous women idly watch the 
passing throngs, while the tinkle of guitars and the 
strains of soft Spanish music mingle with the roar 
of traffic and the honk of automobile horns. 

For ancient, picturesque, and delightfully foreign 
as are these byways of old Havana, yet through 
them flows a constant stream of modern traffic, 
pedestrians of every class, color, and race ; rubber- 
tired Victorias; mule-drawn drays and ox-carts; 
ponderous motor trucks and vans; rushing motor 
delivery wagons; softly purring limousines and 
clanging trolley cars. Marvelous it seems that 
the narrow lanes can accommodate the jam, that 
accidents are not of constant occurrence, but the 
traffic moves swiftly and with scarce a hitch, for 
the police are efficient, and the drivers skillful, 
and accustomed to conditions which would make a 
New York taxi-driver pale. 

Overhead, during the sunny hours of the day, 
stretch canopies gay with color, gorgeous with 
painted advertisements and strange Spanish names 
and which, far above the streets, form a covered 
way like an Oriental bazaar between the stores 
of the shopping districts. And such shops! No 
dingy, dusty, old-fashioned affairs are these, but 



304 THE WEST INDIES 

modern stores with enormous plate glass windows, 
brass and mahogany fronts, and within which 
every article known to the world may be found. 
The only thing wanting is the modern American 
department store, but the Cuban merchant has 
his own ideas on such matters, and most peculiar 
some of these are to the Northerner. Rosaries, 
crucifixes, prayer books, and lottery tickets seem a 
strange combination to us; to find confectionery- 
side by side with firearms and ammunition is a 
surprise, and one gasps in amazement at sight of 
canary birds sold in a shop with quilts and mat- 
tresses; but no doubt, to the Cuban mind, our 
habit of selling cigars and postage stamps in drug 
stores is quite as incomprehensible. 

One must not judge Havana's streets by the 
narrow ways of the old portion of the city, however, 
for there are numerous thoroughfares as wide and 
modern as any of our own, while the Prado and 
the Malecon have few rivals for beauty or perfec- 
tion in any city of the world. 

In Havana, all roads lead to the Central Plaza 
or "Parque Central," the heart of the city, the 
spot from which the main arteries and trolley 
lines radiate, and about which are located the 
most splendid and noteworthy buildings, the 
theaters, the club houses, and the hotels. 

Beautiful in itself is the plaza, a great open 
space occupying several squares and filled with 



CUBA 305 

palms, shade trees, and beautiful flowers ; a splen- 
did statue of the martyred patriot, Marti, in the 
center, and threaded by smooth paths bordered 
by benches for those who would tarry beneath the 
shade. And sitting here and looking about at the 
surroundings, the wonderful beauty, the marvel- 
ous wealth, and the progressive modernity of 
Cuba's capital are borne forcibly upon the visitor. 

On all four sides are massive buildings, con- 
spicuous among them being the Hotel Plaza, 
the Bazaar de Paris, the Asturias Club, the Hotel 
Inglaterra and Telegrafos, and the ornately beauti- 
ful Gallegos Club — a club house costing over one 
million dollars and erected by clerks and work, 
men — while beyond is the magnificent new Presi- 
dential Palace. 

Everywhere upon the streets are luxurious motor 
cars, — many in the ten thousand dollar class, — 
splendid horse-drawn vehicles, and fashionably 
dressed crowds of men and women, while upon the 
roofs blaze and scintillate a myriad of electric 
signs which would be a credit to upper Broadway. 

About the plaza centers the gay night life of the 
city, for Havana wakes up about the time that 
other cities go to bed, and here, better than in any 
other one spot in the city, the visitor may find 
constant interest and amusement and can best 
study the life and ways of the people. 

Each of the immense buildings about the park oc- 



306 THE WEST INDIES 

cupies an entire square — great, massive structures 
of stone and concrete several stories in height and 
supported by huge columns at the edges of the 
sidewalks, thus forming cool, shady colonnades 
with arched openings in which are displayed 
the innumerable wares of the booths and stores on 
the ground floors. Typical of Havana are these 
bazaar-like arcades, the only doors or walls to the 
shops being iron screens which are rolled up out of 
sight during the day, and here, in the open air, 
the Havanese shop and gossip, eat, drink, and are 
shaved in full view of the ever-passing crowds. 

Between the booths, from side to side and di- 
agonally through the buildings, run streets or pas- 
sages also bordered by countless shops, the whole 
forming a veritable city of stores, in a way like a 
gigantic department store, save that the various 
shopkeepers have no interests in common and each 
is a keen rival and competitor of his neighbors. 
Even more heterogeneous than our five-and-ten- 
cent stores is the variety of articles to be found in 
one of these great bazaars, for hats, shoes, china, 
laces, toys, jewelry, baskets, embroidery, liquors, 
groceries, tobacco and cigars, saddles and har- 
ness, souvenirs and post cards, curios and furniture 
are side by side, while for good measure there are 
bootblacks, restaurants, barber shops, and cafes. 

The visitor to Havana will find it a tiresome 
undertaking to wander about the city and see all 



CUBA 307 

the interesting spots afoot, and while the numerous 
trolley cars will carry one to a large proportion 
of the more important places, it is far more satis- 
factory to do one's sight-seeing by means of a cab. 
The "coches, " as these quaint Victoria-like public 
carriages are called, are one of Havana's time 
honored institutions.- They are always in evidence, 
scores of them lining the curb about the plaza and 
in the busier thoroughfares, and they are the cheap- 
est thing in Cuba, and for the modest sum of ten 
cents one or two people may ride anywhere within 
the city limits, while a third passenger costs but 
five cents additional. If longer trips are desired, 
the "coches" may be hired at $1.00 to $1.25 per 
hour, and in a few hours' time every point of interest 
in the city and its environs may be visited. As a 
rule the driver or "cochero" may be trusted to 
show the stranger all places of importance, but it 
is well to arrange beforehand just where one is to 
go in a certain time, as otherwise the jehu may 
cover the same ground twice or may travel by 
such devious routes that far more time than is 
necessary is consumed. Few of the "cocheros" 
speak English, but one may always call upon an 
employee of the hotel to act as interpreter and 
make all business arrangements. 

Just what route should be taken, or in what 
order the more interesting features of Havana 
should be visited, are matters which each visitor 



3 o8 THE WEST INDIES 

must decide for himself, but, as a rule, the drive 
always begins with the Prado. 

This magnificent thoroughfare stretches from 
Colon Park to the water-front, about two miles, 
and throughout its entire length it is bordered 
by splendid buildings, while in the center, between 
the two asphalt driveways, is a series of parklets 
shaded by poincianas, laurel trees, and palms. 

Colon Park, at the upper extremity of the Prado, 
is a charming spot of grass plots, shrubbery, and 
splendid trees, with numerous paths and walks 
through avenues of royal palms, while opposite 
its entrance in the center of the Prado is a strik- 
ingly beautiful monument supporting the figure 
of an Indian goddess known as "La Habena" or 
"La India." Justly proud of the Prado are the 
Cubans, and with good reason, for from end to 
end it is a street to excite the admiration of any 
one. 

Even during the day, the Prado is filled with 
carriages, automobiles, and pedestrians, but after 
sundown it fairly teems and swarms with life, 
and it would be a difficult matter to find another 
thoroughfare in all the world which is gayer, nois- 
ier, or more animated than the Prado between the 
early evening and midnight. The hours of dark- 
ness are the Cubans' playtime, and long after mid- 
night and well towards break of day, the Plaza and 
Prado, the Malecon, and many a lesser street are 



CUBA 309 

ablaze with lights and noisy with song, music, 
and laughter, while vehicles move in a constant 
stream, and cafes, restaurants, and theaters are 
filled to overflowing. 

At the edge of the sea, with Morro in plain 
view across the narrow harbor entrance, the Prado 
joins the Malecon in a broad open space, bor- 
dered by the sea-wall sweeping in a semicircle from 
the old Punta Fort on the right to the Miramar 
Hotel on the left. 

Fronting quaint old Punta with its jutting sentry 
boxes, antique guns, and grassy moat, is a large 
savanna smoothly swarded, cut by asphalt drives 
and set with trees, flower beds, and tropic shrub- 
bery. On the farther side is the old jail, a mon- 
strous yellow building designed to hold five 
thousand prisoners, — and often filled at that, dur- 
ing the Spanish regime, — but now transformed to 
neat and sanitary quarters for the Board of Educa- 
tion. Half way between the jail and Punta stand 
the remains of a one-time building whereon 
is a commemorative tablet marking the spot 
where eight Cuban students were massacred in 
1871. 

From the Punta the wide and perfect roadway 
of the Malecon sweeps beside the sea wall for sev- 
eral miles, one of the pleasantest driveways in the 
world, with the residences of wealthy Cubans on 
the one hand and, on the other, the sapphire sea 



3 io THE WEST INDIES 

and breaking surf, with the ceaseless, refreshing 
breeze cool with the breath of the ocean. 

By continuing along the Malecon one passes 
the Leper Hospital of San Lazaro and the odd 
watch tower, from which, in olden times, the 
Spaniards kept a lookout for the approach of 
pirates and other foes, and just beyond, reaches 
the Vedado, a residential suburb. From the 
Vedado one may return to the plaza by any one 
of half a dozen routes, one of the best being by 
way of Colon Cemetery, El Principe Fort, and 
the Botanic Gardens. 

It was in Colon Cemetery that the victims of 
the Maine disaster were buried, and a splendid 
monument marks their former resting place, but, 
aside from this, the cemetery is worthy of a visit 
for its magnificent sculptured arched gateway 
and numerous costly monuments, while, if a funeral 
is taking place, the stranger will find the hearse as 
interesting as anything to be seen. Drawn by six 
or more plumed and gaily caparisoned horses, 
decorated with scarlet and gold, driven by liveried 
outriders, and with footmen dressed in sixteenth 
century costumes, with cocked hats, gold lace, 
scarlet knickerbockers, and powdered wigs, the 
Havana hearses appear more like circus wagons 
than anything else to Northern eyes, but to the 
Cubans they are the correct thing, and one may 
know the deceased Cuban's standing and wealth 



CUBA 311 

by the number of horses and the gorgeousness of 
the vehicle which carries him to his last resting 
place. 

Principe Fort, a quaint, ancient structure with 
immense walls, deep moat, and portcullis, is at 
present used only as a jail, but from the hilltop 
on which it stands one may obtain a superb view 
of the great city, the harbor, and the Morro 
and Cabanas beyond. 

No visit to a West Indian town would be com- 
plete without a trip to the market, and in Havana 
there are several, two of which, the Colon and the 
Tacon, are very large and within a short walk of 
the Parque Central. 

Tacon Market is a block from Colon Park and 
four blocks from the plaza, while Colon Market 
is between Zulueta and Montserrate streets, a 
block from the Plaza Hotel and Central Park. 
Here one may see every fruit and vegetable of the 
tropics, as well as a great variety of those familiar 
to our Northern markets, for Cuba's soil and climate 
are well adapted to raising the products of the 
temperate as well as the torrid zones. Interesting 
too are the fish stalls with their marvelously 
colored, gorgeously tinted denizens of Cuba's wa- 
ters, while in some ways the poultry section of the 
market is the most interesting of all. The Cuban 
poultryman has ways of his own and divides his 
fowls into numerous sections, each of which has 



312 THE WEST INDIES 

its own price. Thus, one may purchase a breast, 
wing, leg, neck, or even a head or giblets, according 
to one's taste or needs, and the stranger is filled 
with wonder at the multitude of cuts, steaks and 
joints which the Cuban manages to dissect from a 
turkey or a chicken. 

Not far from Colon Market is one of the few 
remaining fragments of the vast city wall which 
originally encircled Havana and did much to 
protect its riches and its people from pirates and 
other enemies. 

A few steps from this little corner of wall, with 
its single picturesque sentry box, is the lovely Los 
Angeles Church with its soft, cream-colored 
steeple and roof, prickly as a cactus, with miniature 
spires. About this church are some of the quaint- 
est and oldest streets in Havana, crooked, running 
at all angles and narrow — the Loma del Angel be- 
ing scarce ten feet in width and the narrowest 
thoroughfare in the city. 
, Another very interesting section of Havana is 
the district about the Plaza de Armas at the foot of 
O'Reilly and Obispo streets. Here, opposite the 
open square of the Plaza de Armas with its hand- 
some statue of Ferdinand VI, is the spot where 
the founders of Havana first landed and which is 
marked by a modest little temple-like chapel 
and monument within an ornamental iron and 
stone fence. This is the Templete and beside 




















as-*"- 




g.lfc .,:*■' 

J~ ~ ; a^ 




1 ; ft. «^' 


M,. 




%* " ^H 





CUBA 313 

it stands a ceiba tree, a scion of the original tree 
beneath which the first Mass in Cuba was said 
when the colonists first stepped ashore. Once a 
year the Templete is opened and, on the night of 
November 15 th, and the following day, it is 
illuminated and decorated in commemoration of 
the founding of the city. 

All about here is historic ground, for this was 
the nucleus of the city, and from here it has grown 
and spread in every direction. The palace of the 
former viceroys and governors-general — later used 
as the presidential palace — fronts on the plaza 
and is open to visitors. Within it, in a patio 
filled with palms and flowers, is a striking statue 
of Columbus; the massive marble stairways are 
beautiful, and the magnificence of Spanish domin- 
ion is still visible on every side, especially in the 
immense throne room. 

But the most noteworthy building, and the most 
historical in the neighborhood, is the unpretentious 
gray stone pile on the northern side of the square. 
This is La Fuerza, once a powerful fort and the 
oldest building in Havana, built in 1538 under the 
personal supervision of Ferdinand de Soto. Here, 
in the thick-walled, moated fastness, De Soto left 
his wife, the beautiful Donna Isabel, when he 
sailed forth to Florida in 1539, and here she 
waited through four long years of patient, ever- 
hopeful vigil until, realizing her husband would 



314 THE WEST INDIES 

never more return, she succumbed to her 
grief. 

To-day, the drawbridge spans a dry and grass- 
grown moat, the guns will never more roar forth 
their messages of death, no grim sentinels pace the 
parapets, but, looking seaward from the battle- 
ments, one may imagine Donna Isabel, with tear- 
stained cheeks, gazing ever westward in the hope 
of seeing the white glint of sails upon the deep 
blue sea, the flutter of gold and crimson flags, the 
glint of sun on casque and breastplate, as the ship 
she longed for came bravely home to Havana 
with De Soto, flushed with fame and glory, upon 
the lofty poop. 

Little she dreamed that in a far and unknown 
land the body of her Ferdinand was being lowered, 
in secret and at dead of night, within the black 
and silent waters of the Mississippi, and still 
less did she dream that above the fortress he had 
builded, would one day fly a new flag, the banner 
of a people and a nation fated to spring up and 
overthrow the mighty power of Spain. 

Many a hard-fought battle has old La Fuerza 
seen. Stoutly and well has it fulfilled its mission 
to defy the guns of pirates, buccaneers, and fight- 
ing ships of Britain, France, and Holland. Within 
its massive walls has rested wealth untold, count- 
less millions in gold and precious stones, for La 
Fuerza was the treasure vault of the New World, 



CUBA 315 

and here were stored, for safety, the riches of 
galleons and plate ships homeward bound from 
Peru and Mexico, Cartagena and Porto Bello. 
Never has La Fuerza fallen, never have its colors 
been struck to besieger, save when the British 
took the Morro and turned its guns upon the sister 
fort across the harbor. 

Only a short distance from La Fuerza and the 
Plaza de Armas, a few blocks up Emperado 
Street behind the palace, is the cathedral, a Latin- 
Gothic imposing church with twin towers, which 
was commenced in 1656 and completed in 1724. 
Within its hoary gray stone walls are many fine 
paintings by old masters, while the altar of Italian 
marble, the mosaic pavement, and the jeweled 
and embroidered vestments are truly marvel- 
ous. 

But the cathedral's chief fame is due to its claim 
as the former resting place of the bones of Colum- 
bus, which it never contained, if we can credit 
the most painstaking researches and indisputable 
historic facts. Tradition dies hard, however, and 
while it has been definitely established that the 
ashes of the discoverer still remain in the cathedral 
at Santo Domingo City, — where they were buried 
after their removal from Spain, — and that the 
supposed remains taken to Havana were those of 
Diego, his son, yet many people still cling to the 
belief that the discoverer of America rested 



316 THE WEST INDIES 

in Havana's cathedral until removed by the 
Spaniards after the Cuban war. 

Many another point of interest is to be seen 
about Havana. There are quaint historic old 
churches, ancient monasteries and convents, the 
theaters, the pelota games, lovely Marianao beach 
with its bathing and yachting; the magnificent 
modern Central Railway Station, the beautiful 
Produce Exchange Building, or La Lonja, the 
library with over twenty thousand volumes, 
among which are priceless old works of early 
Spanish chroniclers, and the cigar factories, 
while of greater interest than all, to many visitors, 
are the Morro and Cabanas castles. 

Both of these are within easy reach, both are 
open to the public, and no visitor to Havana should 
consider his stay complete without seeing these 
wonderful old fortifications. From Caballera 
Wharf launches and small boats may be taken 
across the harbor, the trip costing ten cents each 
way, and from the landing place below Cabanas 
Heights a long, winding, covered way leads up the 
steep slope to the summit. 

As the climb is very fatiguing and hot it should 
be made as early in the morning as possible, or else 
on a cool and cloudy day, and upon reaching 
Cabanas a pass should be obtained to visit Morro. 

Cabanas, although built as a fortress, has never 
been under fire and has served no other purpose 



CUBA 317 

than a prison and barracks where, during the 
numerous revolts of the Cubans, the Spaniards 
confined, tortured, and executed countless num- 
bers of the patriots. Even before one enters 
the forbidding walls of the vast fortress its sinister 
history is brought vividly to mind, for at the 
right of the portal is a shallow moat, above which, 
on the walls, is a beautiful commemorative tablet 
of bronze. This is the famous Laurel Ditch, a 
spot wherein the condemned prisoners were placed 
against the wall and shot without trial, and one may 
still see the bullet marks indenting the masonry 
for a space of near one hundred feet, mutely 
but eloquently testifying to the number of firing 
squads whose leveled rifles sent victims of Spain's 
oppression to their deaths. But cruel and in- 
human as were these executions, those who fell 
in the Laurel Ditch were less to be pitied than 
those who remained alive in the dark and awful 
dungeons within the walls. 

Not until one enters Cabanas can one realize 
the immensity of the place, which is a mile in 
length, one thousand feet in width, and which cost 
over fourteen million dollars, while eleven years 
were required for its construction. Within this 
vast castle-fortress are cells, dungeons, and secret 
passageways without end, many far underground, 
and reminding one of a gigantic, fossilized rabbit 
warren full of holes and burrows made by pre- 



318 THE WEST INDIES 

historic monsters and turned to stone From the 
lofty ramparts, with their curious ancient cannon, 
a wonderful view of harbor and city is presented, 
with the rich, green, smiling country beyond and 
star-shaped Atares Castle on the heights above the 
town — the spot wherein Crittenden and his fifty 
Kentucky comrades were shot down. 

Far older and more interesting than Cabanas is 
the Morro, a short walk to the north, for it was 
completed in 1597, nearly two centuries before 
Cabanas, and designed as an exact replica of the 
Moorish fortress at Lisbon. 

But through the repairs and alterations of three 
hundred years the original design and appearance 
of Morro have been greatly changed and, at first 
sight, it appears far more modern than either 
the Morro at San Juan, Porto Rico, or the fortress 
of the same name at Santiago. 

As is the case with Cabanas, the immense 
strength and size of the Morro do not impress the 
observer until within its walls which rise for one 
hundred feet and more, sheer from the bare and 
wave-beaten cliffs above the sea. Stupendously 
thick and strong they are too, and absolutely 
inaccessible, save from the landward side where 
enormous moats, forty feet in width and seventy 
feet deep, have been hewn from the solid rock and 
are spanned by drawbridges leading to the huge 
sally port. 



CUBA 319 

In the center of the castle is a large open 
parade ground, about which are dark gloomy 
casements, and from here a sloping, paved way 
leads downward towards the dungeons and the sea, 
and, in one place, the visitor is shown a steep 
slide through which, in former times, the prisoners, 
both dead and alive, were slipped into the waves to 
feed the sharks in the Nido de Tiburones (Shark's 
Nest) just below. 

Built to protect Havana from enemies approach- 
ing from the sea, yet never but once has the 
fortress been seriously exposed to attack. That 
was in 1762 when the British laid siege to Havana 
and the Morro proved the undoing of the city it was 
designed to defend, for it was mined and captured 
by the English from the land side and its guns, 
trained on La Fuerza and La Punta, compelled 
the surrender of the town. Obsolete, useless 
against modern artillery, but imposing and pictur- 
esque as ever, the Morro stands to-day, a wonder- 
ful monument, a splendid relic of the past, a 
mighty engine of war converted to the needs of 
peace, a giant created to destroy, serving to safe- 
guard, life, for above its ramparts stands the 
slender tower of the wireless station, while, from 
the lofty lighthouse within its walls, a bright 
beam guides the mariner in safety towards the 
harbor. 

To many Havana is Cuba and Cuba is Havana, 



320 THE WEST INDIES 

and many visitors to the island see nothing out- 
side of the capital. But while Havana is the 
largest of Cuban towns, the center of the wealth, 
business, and commerce of the republic, yet there 
is much to be seen elsewhere, and, to see the 
best of Cuba, to know the Pearl of the Antilles 
for what it is, and to obtain an intelligent idea 
of its products, resources, scenery, development, 
and attractions, the traveler should visit all 
the more important towns reached by coasting 
steamers or railways, or both. 

So vast is Cuba, so different are its various 
provinces, so varied its resources, scenery, and 
climate, so numerous its towns, and so innumerable 
its places of interest and its attractions, that to 
describe the island adequately would require 
not one, but many, chapters, — even an entire 
volume or more. 

Without going far afield the visitor to Cuba may 
see considerable of the interior of the island and 
its resources, and there are many short trips from 
Havana which may be taken by railway, boat, or 
trolley line. 

By crossing the bay, by ferry, from Havana, one 
may visit Regla, a little village once a famous 
resort of smugglers and pirates, but now of little 
interest save as the terminus of an electric line 
to Guanabacoa, an interesting town, at one time 
a very fashionable summer resort, and famed for 



CUBA 321 

its medicinal springs. It was here that Ocampo 
landed in 1508 and pitched the seams of his ships 
with asphalt from the hills behind the town. From 
the fact that his vessels were careened in the bay, 
which now forms Havana's harbor, the latter 
received the name of Puerto de Carenas, which it 
retained for many years. 

Here, too, is the College of Pious Souls, one of 
the most famous of Cuban schools, a massive 
building very similar to the old California Mis- 
sions, with pillared colonnades and flower-filled 
patios. There are also many notable old churches 
in the town, that of Potosi being famous for its 
miracles and which is annually visited by thou- 
sands of pilgrims from all parts of the island. 

From Guanabacoa a bus line runs to Cojimar, a 
seacoast resort with a magnificent bathing beach, in 
the shelter of a quaint little castle-like fort known 
as "Little Morro, " and as there is a good hotel 
here, the visitor may spend several days at Cojimar 
and enjoy the cool sea breezes and the bathing. 

Another short trip is by electric train to Mari- 
anao, where there is a splendid country club and 
sea bathing, or one may continue on to Guanajay, 
or even into the rich tobacco district of Pinar del 
Rio; while another interesting trip is that to 
Madruga, among the hills southeast of Havana, 
and from whose springs the famous Copey water of 
the island is obtained. 



322 THE WEST INDIES 

Guines, not far distant, is in a vast sugar dis- 
trict, and many Americans have settled in the 
vicinity. It was between Guines and Havana that 
the first railway in Cuba was established in 1834, and 
which was in actual use in 1837, years before many 
of our largest towns had been weaned from the 
pony express and the lumbering stage coach. The 
first locomotive used on this pioneer railway is 
still in existence, carefully preserved in the huge 
Central Station in Havana, and forming a wonder- 
ful contrast to the huge Mogul locomotives of 
Cuban railways of to-day, and which stand, 
panting, at the heads of long trains of Pullman 
coaches within a few yards of their miniature 
predecessor. 

Still another, and the most fascinating of all 
short trips, is that to Matanzas and the famous 
Yumuri Valley. Matanzas is but sixty-three miles 
from Havana and readily accessible, as four trains 
leave Havana daily for the town. Its beautiful situ- 
ation, its wonderful caves, its tropical verdure, and 
its quaint foreign appearance have made this north- 
ern coast town a veritable Mecca for excursionists 
and travelers. The railway passes through charm- 
ingly interesting country, first vast cane fields, then 
through rolling hills, hence through a deep gorge 
dense with tropical foliage, ferns, and flowers, and 
finally across the fertile San Juan Valley, rich with 
orange orchards and with green hills on either side, 



CUBA 323 

while far ahead the solitary majestic peak or 
"pan" of Matanzas towers far above the town. 

Matanzas is low, its highest point scarce one 
hundred feet above the sea, and it is divided into 
three parts by the San Juan and Yumuri rivers. 
Each portion is known by a different name, that 
section lying between the two streams being 
Old Town or "Pueblo Viejo, " that on the northern 
bank of the Yumuri being called Versailles, while 
that on the south bank of the San Juan is ' ' Pueblo 
Nuevo" or New Town. 

There are many important and notable build- 
ings in Matanzas, such as the Governor's Palace, 
the Cuban Club, the Spanish Club, and the 
Gran Hotel, all of which are built on or near 
the lovely Plaza de Libertad, while in the Ver- 
sailles section are many magnificent mansions 
as well as the Paseo Marti, a beautiful boulevard 
much like Havana's prado in miniature. Even 
more pretentious and beautiful are the princely 
residences of the wealthy Matanzans in New Town, 
veritable palaces of every color of the rainbow, 
with enormous porticoes, marble columns, immense 
patios, and superb gardens. 

But with all the attractions of Matanzas the 
real interest of the locality lies in the Yumuri 
Valley and the Bellamar Caves. 

The Yumuri Valley has been called the "Vale 
of Paradise, " and its beauties have been described 



3 2 4 THE WEST INDIES 

more often than any other spot in Cuba, and while 
its loveliness cannot be gainsaid, yet it is not so 
large, so luxuriant, nor so attractive as the Vega 
Real of Santo Domingo, or more beautiful than 
many of the vales, girt with towering mountains, 
in Porto Rico. But it can boast of one attraction 
lacking in all others, the Hermitage of Monteser- 
rate upon the crest of Cumbre Hill, a sacred shrine 
credited with innumerable miracles. 

Within are many offerings from the faithful, 
and from far and near come pilgrims hobbling 
on crutches or canes, slowly, painfully, with 
many a halt, climbing the steep hill, to return, 
sound in limb, walking unaided and erect, their 
canes and crutches left within the Hermitage as 
testimony to the wondrous powers of the Lady of 
Monteserrate. 

In a hill, about two miles from Matanzas, are 
the Caves of Bellamar, no whit less famous than 
the Yumuri Valley, and which were first discovered 
accidentally by a Chinese laborer who lost his 
crowbar through a hidden crevice beneath the 
earth where he was working. 

The caverns are entered through a small building 
and by a broad stairway cut in the rock and are 
illuminated by electricity, and the lights, glinting 
and glistening upon the countless crystalline 
stalactites, present a wonderful and beautiful 
effect. 



CUBA 325 

Although not as large as the Luray or the Mam- 
moth Cave, yet the caves of Bellamar extend for 
over four miles, are one hundred feet and more 
in height, and are far more beautiful than our 
gigantic caves in the perfection of their formations. 
The perfect domed roofs, hung with stalactites 
like pendant banners, the enormous columns, 
reaching from floor to ceiling, and the marvelously 
sparkling, prismatic character of the dripstone, 
excel any caverns in the United States. The 
first and largest of the chambers, the so-called 
Gothic Temple, is nearly 250 feet in length by 
75 feet in width, and, in addition, there are 
numerous smaller chambers, halls, passages, and 
grottoes with subterranean rivers, deep, awesome 
chasms, and natural bridges of stone. 

Should the visitor to Cuba elect to travel farther 
along the northern shores of the island he will find 
many a pretty town, much lovely scenery, and 
many interesting spots. First beyond Matanzas 
is Cardenas, one hundred miles from Havana and 
a modern thriving city, famous in the annals 
of our brief war with Spain as the scene of the 
first American fatalities of the conflict, when 
Ensign Bagley and four seamen were killed dur- 
ing an engagement on May 11, 1890. North of 
the town is a very attractive seashore resort, the 
Varadero, with many attractive villas and summer 
homes along the shore. 



326 THE WEST INDIES 

Eastward, about seventy miles from Cardenas, 
is Sagua la Grande, an extremely picturesque 
town, built partly on piles like Batabano, and 
which is the "farthest north" town in Cuba. Off 
the shore are numerous islets, or cays, the summer 
homes of prominent Cubans, and on one of which, 
Cayo Christo, the President of Cuba has a resi- 
dence. Still continuing eastward, Caibarien is 
reached, an important shipping port connected by 
railway with interior towns. 

Nuevitas, the next port, is a very old town, the 
terminus of a railway to Camaguey in the interior, 
and mainly of interest as being the port of La 
Gloria, the most flourishing as well as the pioneer 
American colony in Cuba. 

Next comes Vita, a shipping port of the sugar 
district and with a wonderful landlocked harbor, 
and beyond is Gibara, a quaint and very ancient 
Spanish town and one of the few Cuban towns 
which is still as fascinatingly old-fashioned and 
Oriental as before the Spanish War. 

Charmingly picturesque is Gibara, with its 
brilliantly colored buildings against the steep 
green hillside above the crescent-shaped bay, and 
flanked by comic-opera blockhouses and topped by 
the great yellow cathedral among the palms. More- 
over it is a spot of great historic interest, for it was 
the first place touched at by Columbus when he 
discovered Cuba in 1492, and the triple mountains, 



CUBA 327 

mentioned in his journal as the "Silla, " the "Pan, " 
and the "Tabla, " still loom as prominently and 
impressively beyond the town as on that day 424 
years ago; their lower slopes, verdure clad and 
green, their summits, naked and precipitous, like 
three great fangs, gleaming golden in the sunlight. 

Nipe Bay, with Saetia amid its pineapple plan- 
tations, Preston, the United Fruit Company 
town, and Felton, the shipping port of the vast 
iron mines, lie just beyond Gibara, and here one 
finds the great, busy, modern port, Antilla, the 
terminus of an important branch of the Cuba 
Central Railway and the third most important 
seaport of Cuba. 

Only a few years ago Nipe Bay was the lonely, 
almost unknown, haunt of fishermen, smugglers, 
and filibusters, but to-day the wonderful natural 
harbor is filled with great steamships from far and 
near, about the shores are numerous flourishing up- 
to-date towns with American hotels, factories, and 
industries, while all about, the forests of cabinet 
woods, the fertile fruit and cane lands, and the 
mountains of valuable ores are pouring their wealth 
into the mushroom-like port, which is already 
second only to Havana in prosperity and progress. 

Last of the northern coast towns of Cuba is 
Baracoa upon the borders of a landlocked harbor 
beneath the shadow of the Yunque Mountain 
which towers for two thousand feet above the 



328 THE WEST INDIES 

town. Discovered by Columbus in 1492, this 
lovely spot so attracted the great navigator that he 
declared in his journal that "a thousand tongues 
could not suffice to describe the things I saw here 
of novelty and beauty, for it was all like a scene 
of enchantment." Oldest of Cuba's towns is 
Baracoa, for, lured by the glowing words of Colum- 
bus, hither came Diego Velasquez in 151 1 to 
found a settlement. The fort he built so long 
ago still stands above the town, but the city has 
changed much, for, despite its isolation, it is a busy 
modern place and a shipping port for millions of 
cocoanuts and countless thousands of bunches of 
bananas. 

So numerous are its ports that Cuba has been 
called "the island of one hundred harbors," and 
this is no exaggeration, for both the northern and 
southern coasts are dotted with towns, many of 
which are important shipping ports. 

Nearest to Havana, on the south, is Batabano, 
the "Little Venice" of Cuba, a village on stilts 
and mainly inhabited by spongers and fishermen 
and of importance as the port from which steam- 
ers sail for the Isle of Pines. Fifty miles of 
shallow water separate this much-exploited and 
over-estimated island from Batabano and, unless 
one is desirous of looking over the ground with an 
eye to investment, there is little reason for visiting 
the Isle of Pines. But it is a delightful sail across 



CUBA 329 

the gulf, over a wonderful sea, so clear and shallow- 
that the multicolored, coral-paved bottom may be 
plainly viewed, and, moreover, the isle affords 
excellent bathing, many delightful drives, and good 
fishing. 

Discovered by Columbus, who named it Evan- 
gelista, the Isle of Pines — so-called because of its 
extensive pine forests — was considered practically 
worthless by the Spaniards and was abandoned to 
pirates, smugglers, and buccaneers, while convicts 
sent there by the Spaniards added to the choice 
collection of its inhabitants. It cannot be denied 
that there is some good land in the Isle of Pines, 
that the climate is healthy and delightful, and that, 
as a winter residence for Northerners, the isle 
is all that has been claimed for it, but, like many 
another land and colonization scheme, the possi- 
bilities of the Isle of Pines have been terribly 
exaggerated. 

Its total area is but half a million acres and 
over one third of this is worthless, annually 
inundated, swampy and flinty, wretched moun- 
tains, while much of the remainder is barren pine- 
land. Even the fertile portions are often parched 
and dry during some of the year and are flooded 
at other seasons. 

Moreover the transportation facilities to the 
world's markets are poor, the best soil requires 
fertilizing, and there is not a single advantage 



330 THE WEST INDIES 

or attraction possessed by the Isle of Pines which 
cannot be found to much greater extent and 
under more favorable conditions in Cuba or 
Porto Rico. 

But the roads are excellent, much of the scenery 
is attractive, there are large modern hotels and 
many charming residences on the isle, and the 
majority of the well-to-do inhabitants are 
Americans. 

Unquestionably many of the colonists have 
made money on the Isle of Pines, and, beyond a 
doubt, many more will succeed and prosper, but 
many more have failed and have lost their all 
through misleading and false representations and 
have worked their way home, sadder but wiser 
men, while still others remain stranded on the 
isle and in Cuba, and are compelled to work at 
menial labor to earn their daily bread. 

Aside from limited agricultural possibilities, 
the resources of the Isle of Pines are few and 
scarcely exploited. There are marble quarries 
in the hills, forests of cedar, mahogany, and pine 
in the mountains, and there are numerous mineral 
springs, the water from which is bottled and sold 
in large quantities in Cuba. 

Eastward from Batabano is Jagua Bay, — one of 
the finest harbors in the world, — and six miles 
from the entrance, upon a gentle slope of wondrous 
green, is Cienfuegos. Strangely named was this 



CUBA 331 

city, for Columbus, viewing the spot at night and 
seeing the flashing lights of countless fireflies, 
exclaimed, "Mira los cienfuegos!" (Behold the 
hundred fires !) 

One of the best of Cuba's towns is Cienfuegos, 
as well as one of the most modern, for it was not 
founded until 1819 and was completely rebuilt 
in 1825, after its destruction by a hurricane. 
Second only to Havana, from a commercial stand- 
point, and first of all Cuban ports in its sugar 
shipments, Cienfuegos is a wealthy, prosperous, 
progressive city with wide straight streets, electric 
lights, and every improvement. 

The plaza is noted for its beauty and is guarded 
by two great marble lions, presented by Queen 
Isabella of Spain, while facing it is the massive 
cathedral within which is a wonderful image 
of the Madonna robed in cloth of gold and royal 
purple, and which, like the lions, is also a gift 
of the Spanish queen. 

Notable among the prominent buildings is the 
great Terry Theater, built at a cost of over 
$150,000 by the heirs of Don Tomas Terry, 
one of Cuba's wealthiest sugar kings, and the 
receipts from which are devoted to the schools. 

About the plaza centers the life of the city, and 
here, on Sunday and Thursday evenings, come the 
beauty and wealth — as well as the ugly and 
humble — of the town, to listen to the dreamy music 



332 THE WEST INDIES 

of the band and to parade beneath the palms, 
seeing and being seen, in true Spanish-American 
fashion. In Havana few of the women of the 
better class retain the becoming, picturesque 
dress of Spain, but in Cienfuegos soft mantillas 
and fluttering rebosas have not given way to 
Parisian millinery and bizarre gowns of up-to-date 
style, and the Senoras and Senoritas are still true to 
the flower-bedecked hair, clinging laces, high 
combs, and bewitching costumes of their ancestors. 

Cienfuegos itself is rather too hot for comfort 
during the day, although the climate is healthy 
enough, but about the borders of the bay are 
villas and suburbs which are cool and breezy, and 
here the well-to-do residents dwell, amid a Para- 
dise of tropic foliage, with the turquoise waters 
of the bay stretching across to smooth green 
fields, beyond which rise the opalescent, distant 
mountains. 

All about Cienfuegos are delightful drives, 
beautiful scenery, and interesting spots, such as 
Habanilla Falls, a lovely cataract in the most 
luxuriant of tropic verdure, and the Damiju River, 
flowing under arches of bamboo, while close at 
hand, at the entrance to the harbor, is the hoary 
old Castillo de Jagua, a fortress built in the reign 
of Philip V and the quaintest and most picturesque 
of all Cuba's medieval structures. 

Trinidad, the next important port to the east of 



CUBA 333 

Cienfuegos, is the second oldest town in Cuba, 
founded in 15 13 by caballeros from Spain, who 
.accompanied Cortez on his conquest of Mexico, 
and among whom was Puertocarero who made 
the first voyage from New to Old Spain. 

Beyond Trinidad is Jucaro, of little interest 
save as the southern end of the famous "trocha. " 
Beyond here, and stretching for miles just off the 
coast, is a chain of innumerable islets or cays, 
marvelously beautiful at a distance, and called 
by Columbus "Las Jardines de la Reina" (The 
Gardens of the Queen) but, despite their beauty, 
untenable for any inhabitants other than spongers 
and fishermen, owing to the myriads of blood- 
thirsty mosquitoes with which they are infested. 

At the eastern end of this chain of cays is the 
Gulf of Guacanaybo into which flows the great 
Cauto River, the largest and most important 
of Cuba's streams and which is navigable by steam- 
boats for fifty miles. Upon the eastern shore of this 
great bay is Manzanillo, a city of twenty thousand 
inhabitants and an important port through which 
are exported the products of a vast and rich 
agricultural district. 

The town is supplied with electric lights and 
is modern in every way, but unfortunately it is 
very hot and far from healthy, and its chief 
interest to Americans lies in the fact that it was 
at this spot that the last shot of the Spanish- 



334 THE WEST INDIES 

American war was fired, while the town was 
barely saved from bombardment by the timely 
signing of the peace protocol. 

Far more interesting than the trip along Cuba's 
coasts, and affording a far better opportunity to 
view the island, is the journey from Havana to 
Santiago, a distance of five hundred miles, by the 
Cuba Central Railway. 

Twenty-four hours are required for the journey, 
but luxurious Pullman cars are furnished, there 
are restaurants, hotels, and other accommodations 
en route, and the trip is as comfortable and 
pleasant as a trip on one of our own great railways 
and, if desired, a stop-over may be made at 
Camaguey or other points. 

As the first part of the route is through a flat, 
uninteresting cane district which extends as far 
as Santa Clara, it is wisest to take the evening 
train, which leaves Havana at 10 P. M., and thus 
have the entire following day amid the most 
interesting and varied scenery and the most 
noteworthy towns of the interior of the island. 

At daybreak the traveler looks forth across far- 
reaching fields of cane and tobacco above which 
stretches a gossamer coverlet of mist, like a vast 
silver sea, from which rise islands of bamboo 
and lofty palms, while half -submerged in the nebu- 
lous sea are tiny huts, neat houses, and great sugar 
mills. Rapidly the buildings become more numer- 



CUBA 335 

ous, cane and tobacco give way to roads and 
streets, and, with a rumble and roar, the train 
pulls into Santa Clara, 184 miles from the capital. 

A city of twenty-five thousand inhabitants is 
Santa Clara, a thriving modern town, in the 
center of a sugar and cattle district which produces 
nearly one third of all the sugar raised in Cuba. 
With a healthy climate, excellent hotels and 
restaurants, and noted for the beauty of its women, 
Santa Clara has many attractions. It is lit with 
electricity, it possesses a splendid water supply, 
the streets are smooth and level, there are many 
notable buildings, and the town possesses a famous 
theater, the "Teatro de la Caridad, " which was 
presented to the city by a native lady, and the 
entire proceeds of which, like those of the Terry 
Theater in Cienfuegos, are devoted to the public 
schools. 

The cathedral is also notable, and within it is a 
picture of the Madonna which has hung in the 
same spot for over two hundred years. 

But, unless the traveler decides to stop over in 
the town, there is little opportunity to see its sights, 
and the train soon moves slowly out of the station 
and rushes eastward across the level lands towards 
Placetas del Sur. Here a branch line leads to 
Caibarien and northern coast ports, while to the 
south is the Manicaragua Valley, famous for 
its superior tobacco. 

\ 



336 THE WEST INDIES 

Zaza del Medio, 237 miles from Havana, is the 
next stop, a beautifully situated little town on the 
banks of the Zaza River. Here the flat cane and 
grazing district is left behind and all about are 
beautiful rolling hills, checkered with tobacco fields 
and gardens, separated by groves of royal palms 
and poinciana trees, while between the hills 
stretch lush grassy llanuras cut by the great, wind- 
ing, silvery river. 

From Zaza a railway leads to Sancti Spiritus, 
seven miles south, and which, founded in 15 14, had 
become so rich by 1667 that it attracted the 
attention of pirates who invaded the town, "much 
to the detriment of the persons and properties 
of its inhabitants," as stated by the historian 
Pezuela. Still later, in 17 19, Sancti Spiritus was 
again looted by French and British pirates from 
the Bahamas, and, on various other occasions since 
then, the "persons and properties of its inhabit- 
ants " have suffered from warfare, revolutions, and 
bandits. 

Onward from Zaza, past many small towns, the 
train rushes eastward through a rich and beautiful 
country where forests of cabinet woods clothe 
the hillsides, while above the tobacco they will 
one day box rise, magnificent trees of Spanish 
cedar. 

At Ciego de Avila, 280 miles from Havana, the 
train crosses the famous, or infamous, "trocha, " 



CUBA 337 

a cleared barbed-wire road constructed by the 
Spaniards across the island from Jucaro on the 
south to San Fernando on the north coast. At 
intervals of a kilometer apart little blockhouses, 
or forts, were erected, and many of these still 
stand, dilapidated and overgrown, beside the half- 
mile clearing which has been converted into gar- 
dens, orchards, and fields by the Cubans, who have 
thus benefited by the labors of their former enemies. 

Ciego itself is a prosperous little town, with 
sawmills buzzing noisily as they transform the 
mahogany and cedar logs from the nearby forests 
into cigar boxes and cabinet wood. At this place 
there is an excellent railway restaurant and half an 
hour is allowed for meals, which is ample time to 
eat and see the town in addition. 

Leaving Ciego, the railway enters a district of 
great tropical forests interspersed by broad smiling 
valleys and rich pasture lands, where herds of 
cattle graze, while numerous sawmills stand among 
the trees, and acres of bananas and plantain trees 
stretch across the clearings. 

Through many a red-tiled village and thatched- 
roof wayside settlement, the train thunders ; over 
many a culvert and bridge it roars, and the whistle 
shrieks at many a grade crossing, while swarthy 
Cubans, half-naked brown children, and fair- 
skinned northern settlers wave hats and hands 
as the cars sweep past toward distant Santiago. 



338 THE WEST INDIES 

Wider and larger become the clearings and the 
cultivated lands, farther and farther apart are the 
forests; broad fields of waving guinea grass take 
the place of banana portreros, and everywhere 
countless horses and great herds of cattle graze 
upon the rolling, open prairie land. Then, far 
ahead, one sees a glimpse of twin church towers 
against the shimmering blue sky and the train 
enters ancient, picturesque old Camaguey. 

Upon a high interior plain, seven hundred feet 
above the sea, is the city of Camaguey, and this 
altitude, combined with the trade wind sweeping 
in from the north, gives to the locality a cool, 
delightful, healthy climate. And as perfect as 
its climate is Camaguey's situation upon the gently 
rolling plain dotted with palms and trees, cut by 
streams, luxuriant with verdure, and with the 
purple-shadowed mountains looming in the dis- 
tance. 

Very old is Camaguey and, despite all its modern 
improvements and twentieth-century progress, 
it looks its age and is full of picturesque, Old- 
World nooks and byways, crooked, roughly 
paved streets, rambling squat buildings, heavy 
stone cornices, red-tiled roofs, projecting iron 
window-grills of antique design, and dark court- 
yards which give a most Oriental, Moorish appear- 
ance to the town. 

Originally built upon the northern coast near 



CUBA 339 

Nuevitas, the town was known as Puerto Principe, 
but within a year of its founding, in 15 15, it was so 
ravished by pirates that the citizens were obliged 
to pack up what little the freebooters had left 
them and move inland. 

But even this migration did not prevent the 
pirates from following, and, in 1665, the city was 
sacked by Morgan, who made a forced march 
from the coast and secured a vast amount of 
treasure which the inhabitants had accumulated 
through the cattle industry. Many of the people 
were killed in the raid and many more perished 
miserably of thirst and starvation, for the buc- 
caneers drove all the inhabitants into the churches, 
and, locking them up, left them to starve, mean- 
while making merry on their victims' propert}- 
and varying their diversions by butchering men, 
women, and children who had fallen into their 
clutches. 

Finally, having exhausted the supplies of the 
city, the pirates departed for the coast with five 
hundred head of stolen cattle and a number of 
prisoners, who were forced to kill and dress the 
animals for provisioning their captors' ships. 

One may still see the old churches, within which 
the captives wailed out their misery in the bloody 
days when the pirates held the city. La Merced 
is one of these, a structure with walls four to 
eight feet thick and built as if to withstand a siege. 



340 THE WEST INDIES 

The altar of solid silver was made from forty 
thousand Spanish dollars, and there is also a 
sepulcher of beaten silver, weighing five hundred 
pounds, containing an image of Christ and which, 
on Good Friday, is carried through the streets on 
men's shoulders. 

Camaguey is famous for its churches and, in 
addition to La Merced, there are many others of 
equal note, among them La Soledad, built in 
1697, and Nuestra Sefiora de la Caridad, near 
which is a remarkable well, thirty feet in depth, with 
a winding stairway leading down to the surface of 
the water, and all hewn from the solid rock. 

Although still called, at times, by its original 
name of Puerto Principe, yet the old Indian 
name of Camaguey is in more general use and is 
much more appropriate, for "Prince's Port" 
seems scarcely fitting for an interior town many 
miles from the sea. 

Since the evacuation of the island by the Span- 
iards, Camaguey has become a very important 
progressive city, largely owing to the fact that the 
Cuban Railway has established its headquarters 
here and, in addition, maintains one of the finest 
hotels in Spanish America. The Hotel Camaguey 
was originally a cavalry and infantry barracks 
of the Spanish troops and, with an area of nearly 
five acres, was capable of housing two thousand 
soldiers. 



CUBA 341 

Remodeled and renovated and with sanitary- 
plumbing, artesian wells, electric lights, and every 
up-to-date convenience, the massive old building 
has been transformed into a modern and most 
attractive hotel, with lovely patios filled with 
palms, shade trees, vines, and flowers, and yet with 
all of its quaint old Moorish architectural features 
retained. 

The streets of the city, though often narrow, 
and as rocky as the proverbial road to Dublin, 
are clean and well kept ; there are beautiful parks 
and plazas, trolley cars and electric lights, and the 
water supply is from artesian wells. With its 
modernity on the one hand and its quaint, Old- 
World charms on the other, its ideal climate and its 
beautiful situation, the interesting town should 
prove a most delightful winter resort, especially 
as many of the planters in the vicinity are Ameri- 
cans and English is more generally spoken in 
Camaguey than in any other Cuban city. 

All about Camaguey is a marvelously rich 
agricultural and grazing district, with great fruit 
and truck gardens, ranches containing thousands 
of acres, immense herds of cattle, and vast tracts of 
valuable timber, the whole forming one of the most 
alluring and promising districts of Cuba and with 
its resources scarcely touched as yet. 

Through this rich upland plain the train con- 
tinues its journey to Marti, at the junction of the 



342 THE WEST INDIES 

Bayamo, San Luis, and Manzanillo lines, a town 
named in honor of Cuba's martyred patriot. 
Fifty miles farther east is Las Tunas, famous as 
the scene of a most remarkable victory won by 
General Garcia's force of six hundred men against 
tremendous odds and in which General Frederick 
Funston took a conspicuous part as officer in 
charge of the Cuban artillery. 

At the close of the war not a house or building 
remained standing in Las Tunas, but the town 
was rapidly rebuilt, and to-day it is a prosperous 
modern little place surrounded by over one 
thousand acres of citrus fruit orchards owned by 
American and Canadian colonists. 

Beyond Las Tunas, the open grassy and agricul- 
tural district rapidly gives place to forest-covered 
land, with the mighty trees crowding close beside 
the tracks and with every little station surrounded 
by huge piles of cedar, mahogany, locust, and 
lignum- vitas logs. 

For mile after mile and hour after hour the 
train tears through the interminable forests, while 
long shadows creep among the trees, until, when 
Alto Cedro is reached, darkness is descending on 
the land. 

At Alto Cedro, 491 miles from Havana, a stop of 
twenty-five minutes is made to enable passengers 
to dine at the station restaurant, and the traveler 
grudges the delay, as the rapidly approaching 



CUBA 343 

night hides the wild, sublime scenery that stretches 
beyond the town. 

Soon only twinkling lights mark the little 
villages which flit rapidly past the windows, 
while the train whirls swiftly through the soft tropic 
night and enters a narrow pass in the sky-piercing 
Maestra Mountains. Roaring over spider-web-like 
bridges, skirting the verges of velvet-black canons, 
circling precipitous cliffs, and crawling through 
ravines the train at last flashes by the lights 
of scattered houses, and slowly, with grinding 
brakes, comes to the end of its run in the station 
at Santiago. 

Picturesque, quaint, historic, hilly, hot, and 
fascinating is Santiago, a city without a counter- 
part in the New World, and utterly charming 
despite its torrid temperature and its everlast- 
ingly precipitous, breath-exhausting streets. Even 
under Spanish rule, Santiago was a fascinating 
spot, but now that the dirt, filth, and odors of those 
days have gone forever, now that the rough and 
cobbled byways have been replaced with asphalt 
and macadam pavements; with trolley cars thread- 
ing the ancient thoroughfares, with water which one 
may drink without fear of sudden death or linger- 
ing sickness, and, more important than all, now 
that there is a good hotel in the town, Santiago 
has become doubly attractive. 

Girt round by rugged wooded mountains, re- 



344 THE WEST INDIES 

plete with wild tropic scenery, with its wonderful 
harbor, its ancient houses and steep fantastic 
streets, Santiago de Cuba is beautiful to see and 
possesses an atmosphere and individuality of its 
own. 

From the verge of the blue harbor, with palm- 
embowered Marine Park stretching along the shore, 
the picturesque city climbs up the hillsides in tier 
after tier of pink, blue, green, white, and piebald 
buildings, red- tiled roofs, and waving palms; the 
whole culminating in the great cathedral, while 
everywhere meander the narrow crooked streets, 
in many places carried from block to block in 
the form of flights of steps. 

And added to all its other attractions is its 
interesting history, for Santiago was for many 
years the capital and most important town in 
Cuba; it has passed through many a siege, through 
many stormy times, and up and down its steep 
thoroughfares has passed many a famous man — 
many a one who helped build the glory of New 
Spain. 

Here in Santiago lived Velasquez, founder of 
Cuba, and here he died and was buried in 1522. 
Here, too, dwelt Cortez, within a house still stand- 
ing on the hill, a squat, one-story, tiled-roof 
dwelling from whose wooden-grilled windows a 
glorious view of mountains, town, and harbor is 
outspread. Even a more interesting character of 



CUBA 345 

history has lived here in old Santiago — Bartholo- 
mew Las Casas, chronicler of Columbus's voyages, 
friend of the Indians, the director of the first 
university on American soil, and the most wonder- 
ful, the most glorious, and the most revered figure 
of those romantic, reckless, adventurous, cruel 
years of the conquest of the New World. 

And in Santiago, in later years, dwelt Doctor 
Antomarchi, the physician who was at Napo- 
leon's bedside when the ill-starred emperor died in 
St. Helena, and in Santiago's quiet cemetery he 
lies buried, a victim of yellow fever, as stated on 
the monument above his grave. 

In Santiago, too, was the first school in Cuba, 
established in 1522, and on the site of this ancient 
institution now .stands a modern American school, 
a model in every way, which was built at a cost 
of $50,000, half of which was donated by Mr. 
H. L. Higginson of Boston. 

Throughout the world the name of Adelina Patti 
is known to fame, her voice has charmed countless 
thousands in the greatest theaters and opera- 
houses of every land, but how many who have 
thrilled at her music know that it was in quaint 
old Santiago that she first appeared in public? 
But such was the case, and near the plaza stands 
the Filarmonia Theater where, at the age of four- 
teen, she made her debut in the ancient, out-of-the- 
world Cuban town. 

i 



346 THE WEST INDIES 

Dark deeds have taken place in Santiago also. 
'Twas here the Spaniards shot the captain and 
the men of the Virginius in 1873, and, to add insult 
to the butchery, killed the Americans in the public 
slaughter house where a monument now marks 
the spot with the inscription: "You who pass here 
uncover your heads. It is consecrated earth. 
For thirty years it has been blessed by the blood 
of patriots sacrificed to tyranny. " 

Aside from its history, its associations with 
bloody deeds, and its foreign atmosphere, Santiago 
holds much of interest. There is the Alameda, 
or park, along the water-front, the resort of Santi- 
ago's fashionable folk in the cool of the afternoon 
and on Sundays; the plaza with its cathedral, 
which is the largest on the island, with twin towers, 
massive dome, and enormous nave, while on the 
opposite side of the plaza are the Carlos Club, the 
Casa Grande Hotel, the Municipal Buildings, 
and the famous Venus Restaurant. Here, above 
the town, the air is cool and fresh after sundown, 
and the visitor may sit in the shade and listen to 
the band as "all the world and his wife" pasears 
about the paths and drives, while stretching 
from one's feet to the harbor, and twinkling with 
innumerable lights, lies the town, like a gigantic 
fan set with scintillating gems. 

About Santiago are many spots made famous 
by our war with Spain and all are within easy 



CUBA 347 

reach. Scarce three miles from the town and 
accessible by an electric-car line is San Juan Hill 
and its battlefield, El Caney and the Peace Tree, 
and from the last a splendid view is obtained 
of the route followed by the American troops and 
the country round about made memorable by the 
war. 

Another trip of great interest is to Cobre and its 
copper mines, to the west of Santiago, and reached 
by the company's steamer over the bay and hence 
by private railway through wonderful scenery to 
the mines. For centuries the Cobre mines have 
been worked with little diminution in their rich- 
ness, and while they are well worth seeing, yet the 
greatest attraction of the district is the famous 
Virgin, known as "Nuestra Sefiora de la Cari- 
dad, " an image credited with miraculous powers 
which has been at Cobre for nearly three centuries. 

Strangely romantic is the story of the Virgin of 
Cobre, and thousands of pilgrims flock each year to 
the shrine on the eighth of September, the date 
of her festival. 

It was over four hundred years ago that Alonzo 
de Ojeda bore an image of the Virgin with him on 
his caravel and was shipwrecked upon the southern 
coast of Cuba. Fortunately, friendly Indians 
were near at hand, and Ojeda's life was saved by 
the Cacique and, in token of his gratitude, the 
Spaniard gave the wooden Virgin to the Indian 



348 THE WEST INDIES 

chief. Within a rude shrine, erected by the 
savages, the Virgin was placed, and before it the 
Indians prostrated themselves in adoration, until 
one day the image mysteriously disappeared. 

One hundred years passed by and the Virgin 
was forgotten, when a party of Indians found the 
lost image floating upon a bit of plank in Nipe 
Bay and carried it to their village of Hato, not 
far from Cobre. 

But three times in succession the Virgin left 
the spot unaided and each time reappeared upon 
the summit of the mountain, and the Indians, 
fully convinced it was her wish to remain there, 
built a shrine upon the eminence. That was in 
1 63 1, and within that shrine the image has re- 
mained until the present day. 

Carved of wood, and about eighteen inches in 
height, this historic image is mounted within a 
tabernacle of tortoise-shell, inlaid with gold and 
ivory, and is richly robed in gold and decorated 
with jewels valued at over $10,000. Great as is 
the wealth bestowed upon it the shrine at one time 
contained decorations and offerings of far greater 
worth, but on a night in May, 1899, some sacri- 
legious thief broke into the shrine and robbed 
the sanctuary of gold and jewels valued at more 
than $25,000. 

No visit to Santiago would be complete without 
a trip to the Morro, the wonderful medieval fort- 



CUBA 349 

ress that guards the narrow waterway leading to 
Santiago's wondrous harbor. 

High on a rocky promontory, two hundred feet 
above the beating, ceaseless waves, it stands, its 
frowning walls fitted so closely to the lofty cliff 
that they appear a very portion of the rock itself. 
Impregnable it seems, vast, rock-ribbed, and built 
to endure for all time ; its turrets and towers scarce 
altered since the days 'twas built, four centuries 
ago, its quaint stone sentry boxes overhanging the 
abyss above the sea. Hoary with great age, 
battle-scarred, seamed, and lichen-covered, it still 
remains intact as ever, though countless tons of 
shot and shell have been hurled against its ram- 
parts, though storm and flood and hurricane and 
battle have beat against its mighty walls for ages. 

Thus* it appears as viewed from seaward, as 
strong, enduring, and formidable as ever, but, 
when seen from within its walls, it is crumbling 
and dismantled, deserted save by a tiny garrison, 
and useful only as a signal station. 

Armed with a pass, the visitor may ramble 
where he will throughout the old castle-fortress, 
and a member of the garrison will gladly act as 
guide and point out every place of interest far 
and near, for from Morro's lofty perch there is a 
marvelous view, a panorama of the beautiful 
harbor and the city, of the country and the coast, 
for many miles. 



350 THE WEST INDIES 

Close under the wave-worn cliffs below the 
fortress lies the harbor entrance, scarce five hun- 
dred feet in width, with La Socapa just across 
the way, and beyond, the ancient battery on 
Estrella Point. Next comes Punta Gorda, with 
its scowling ramparts, and, farther on, the hilly 
wooded islet, — Cayo Smith, — with red roofs peep- 
ing from the verdure. Beyond this pretty spot 
stretches the great, landlocked purse-shaped har- 
bor, six miles in length by three miles wide, sur- 
rounded by towering mountains and, at its head, 
the prismatic-hued city gleaming in the sun. 

Far in the hazy east lies Daiquiri, the landing 
place of Shafter's troops; beyond it is Guantanamo 
and, turning about, one looks across the interven- 
ing sun-steeped land to Siboney, while stretching 
southward to the shimmering horizon sparkles the 
blue Caribbean Sea. 

Out yonder on the white-capped waves once 
rose and fell the grim fighting ships of Schley and 
Sampson ; under the very walls on which one stands 
stole Hobson on the Merrimac; out through the 
winding channel beneath one's feet swept Cer- 
vera's fleet on its way to destruction and, for years 
thereafter, the burned and battered hulks strewed 
the rocky coast for fifty miles to the west, mute 
testimonials to the end of Spain's dominion in the 
New World. 



APPENDIX 

GLOSSARY OF THE WEST INDIES 




APPENDIX 

GLOSSARY OF THE WEST INDIES 

Anegada 

One of the British Virgin Island group situated 
northeast of St. Thomas. 

A small island twelve miles in length by two miles 
in width and known also as the "Overflowed Island," 
as much of its area is scarcely above sea level and 
is often submerged during storms. 

Population entirely black and colored. 

Supposed to contain a great quantity of buried 
pirate treasure. Copper and silver ore deposits are 
known to exist, but are not worked. 

Discovered by Columbus in 1493. Later the resort 
of pirates and buccaneers. 

No hotels or boarding houses. 

Reached by sailing boats from St. Thomas and 
St. Kitts. 

Language and currency English. 

Anguilla 

One of the British Leeward Islands about sixty 
miles north of St. Kitts and under jurisdiction of the 
latter. 

35i 



352 APPENDIX 

Known sometimes as Eel Island and Little Snake. 
Length about sixteen miles; width, three miles; area, 
thirty-six square miles. Sterile for the most part. 

Population about three thousand, principally 
negroes. 

Cattle and ponies are raised and exported. 

Formerly a resort of freebooters. 

No hotels or boarding places. 

Reached by packets from St. Kitts. 

Language and currency English. 

Antigua 

Seat of government of British Leeward Island 
Confederation. 

About fifty miles southeast of St. Kitts. 

About seventy miles in circumference with ari area 
of about 108 square miles or 69,000 acres of which half 
are cultivated. 

Mainly of limestone formation, low and rolling, 
but with hills rising to a height of eight hundred feet. 
Soil in many places fertile but dry and subject to 
droughts. In many places exhausted by constant 
crops without fertilizer being used. 

Population about fifty thousand. Capital and 
chief port St. John's with thirteen thousand inhab- 
itants. English Harbor, formerly an important naval 
station, is situated on the opposite side of the island 
from St. John's, but is not used at present. 

Sugar is the principal crop, but pineapples are also 
exported. Cotton and sisal hemp have been tried 
with little success. 



APPENDIX 353 

Climate healthy but dry and hot. 

Discovered by Columbus on his second voyage in 
1493. Reason for name (Antigua or "Ancient") 
unknown. First settled by the Spaniards and later 
by French, but the first permanent colony was estab- 
lished by the English under Sir Thomas Warner in 
1632. 

Inhabited by Caribs who were troublesome, and in 
1640 the governor's wife was kidnaped by the Carib 
chief. She was rescued by the governor, but, becoming 
suspicious of her faithfulness, he went insane. Devas- 
tated by hurricanes repeatedly. After the Caribs 
were driven from Antigua they continued to harass the 
British by forays from the other islands until a son of 
Sir Thomas Warner, who had become the governor, 
massacred the Caribs by treachery. 

Inviting them to a feast, his men fell upon the In- 
dians and butchered them to a man. Among the 
slain was Sir Thomas Warner's half-breed son who 
was a sub-chief in command of the Caribs. 

After this massacre the English were subject to 
attacks by the French, but have maintained their 
occupancy to the present time. 

Among places of interest are the Anglican Church 
and ancient cemetery at St. John's; the public 
gardens; Government House; leper hospital; old 
forts; English Harbor, and old dockyard where Nel- 
son refitted his fleet; Valley of Petrifications; sugar 
estates. 

Numerous boarding houses and one or two fair 
hotels in St. John's. Saddle ponies, motor cars, and 

«3 



354 APPENDIX 

carriages, as well as rowboats, sailboats, and launches, 
may be hired. 

Reached by Quebec S. S. Co. (about nine days) 
from New York. By Royal Mail (Canadian Line) 
from Bermuda, Halifax, and other islands and, under 
normal conditions, by Royal Mail Steam Packet 
Co. 

Language and currency English. Terms "dollars 
and cents" used and five-dollar Colonial Bank Notes 
in circulation, as well as notes of Royal Bank of 
Canada. 

Aves 

There are two islands of this name in the Antilles. 
The first is a small islet about one hundred miles west of 
Dominica. It is uninhabited, scarcely above sea level, 
and is the haunt of thousands of sea birds. Claimed 
by both France and England. A midshipman of the 
United States Navy, who died during the War of 1 8 12, 
is buried on this desolate bit of land. The other 
Aves Island is one of the "Coast Islands" off the 
northern coast of South America and is a dependency 
of Venezuela. This is the "Isle of Aves" referred 
to in stories of pirates. It is of no importance to-day. 

BAHAMAS 

A group of some three thousand islands, cays, and 
exposed reefs belonging to Great Britain and situated 
east of Florida and north of Cuba and distant about 
one thousand miles from New York. Most westerly 



APPENDIX 355 

island, Great Bahama, off Jupiter, Florida. Most 
easterly, Grand Turk, north of Santo Domingo. 

Total area of group about 5700 square miles. 
Highest land three hundred feet above sea. Of so- 
called "coral" (Aeolian) limestone formation with 
thin but fertile soil which supports a semi-tropical 
flora but is capable of producing many tropical fruits 
and other plants. 

Population about sixty thousand, mainly colored. 
Capital and chief port, Nassau, on New Providence 
Island, with fifteen thousand inhabitants. 

Principal islands are Acklin, Andros, Abaco, the 
Biminis, the Caicos, Cat Island, Eleuthera, Exuma, 
Fortune Island, Grand Bahama, Great Inagua, Grand 
Turk, Harbor Island, Long Island, Long Cay, Maya- 
guana, New Providence, Ragged Island, Rum Cay, 
and Watling's. San Salvador Island is the same as 
Cat Island. 

Few of the islands are populated and the inhabitants 
of these are mainly negroes and half-breeds. 

Principal products are salt, turtles, sponges, sisal 
hemp, cotton, cocoanuts, and tropical fruits. Most 
important industry, exploitation of islands as a winter 
resort. 

Climate healthy and pleasant during the winter 
months, but very hot in summer. 

Discovered by Columbus in 1492, the land first 
sighted on his famous voyage being one of the Ba- 
hamas and supposedly either Watling's or San Salva- 
dor Island, but identity questionable. First settled 
by the English under Captain Sayles in 1667 at New 



356 APPENDIX 

Providence. Colony destroyed and governor roasted 
over a slow fire by the Spaniards a few years later. 
For many years a resort of pirates, buccaneers, and 
wreckers. Wrecking carried on until within the last 
decade on outlying islands. During our Civil War 
a famous resort and headquarters for blockade 
runners. 

Places of interest are the "Sea Gardens," Hole in the 
Wall on Abaco; Glass Window at Eleuthera; Caverns 
at Eleuthera; Cat or San Salvador Island, scene of 
Columbus's landing in Washington Irving's works; 
Lake of Fire near Nassau, also called Waterloo; 
Blue Hills; Lake Killarney; Lake Cunningham; Caves 
on New Providence; Fish Market; Sponge Exchange, 
public library; ceibatree; Government House; Statue 
of Columbus; Fort Fincastle; Queen's Staircase; 
Fort Charlotte, and Fort Montague in and about 
Nassau. 

Numerous hotels and boarding places at Nassau 
and boarding houses at Grand Turk and some other 
islands. 

Reached by Ward Line (N. Y. & Cuba Mail S. S. 
Co.) from New York or via Florida East Coast Lines. 

Language English. Currency officially British but 
U. S. money widely used. 

Baliceux 

One of the Grenadines between St. Vincent and 
Grenada in the Lesser Antilles (Windward Islands). 
British and under jurisdiction of Grenada. 



APPENDIX 357 

Barbados 

A British possession and most easterly of the West 
Indies nicknamed "Little England" and "Bimshire 
Land." Inhabitants known locally as "Bims" or 
"Badians." 

Length about twenty-two miles; width fifteen miles. 
Of limestone formation, comparatively low and flat, 
but with hills in Scotland district on eastern coast 
rising to one thousand feet above the sea. No true 
streams or lakes, but with numerous underground riv- 
ers and vast caverns, many of which are unexplored. 
Soil very fertile. 

Population about 200,000 or nearly 1200 to the 
square mile. The most densely inhabited spot in 
the world with exception of China. 

Capital, Bridgetown, with about thirty thousand 
inhabitants. Other important towns and settlements 
are Holetown, Hastings (a suburb of the capital), 
Martin's Bay, Bathsheba, etc., but the population 
spreads so evenly over the island that it is difficult to 
define the settlements or areas of villages. 

Principal exports, sugar, molasses, and rum, but 
many vegetables are exported to other islands, and 
arrowroot, cotton, corn, etc., are also raised. 

Climate exceedingly healthy and pleasant, winter 
months average from 68°-8o°; summer from 73°-86°. 
Trade winds blow constantly and seldom uncomfort- 
ably warm. During the summer severe thunder- 
storms are frequent and hurricanes often occur. 

Discovered by the Spaniards under Columbus and 



358 APPENDIX 

named (supposedly) from the beard-like growth of 
tendrils on the wild fig trees (Barbados meaning 
"bearded"), but this explanation is questionable. 
First visited by the English in 1605 when Sir Oliver 
Leigh stopped at the island in the Olive Blossom. 
Barbados was then uninhabited, although Indian 
tools and weapons are often found, and no settlement 
was made until 1625, when two large vessels, under 
command of Sir William Courteen, with forty emi- 
grants and eight negroes, were driven to Barbados 
by storms. A landing was made at the present site 
of Holetown and a settlement named Jamestown 
established. 

In 1627 the Earl of Carlisle obtained a grant to all 
the Caribbees from King James and sent out a Bermu- 
dian named Wolferstone as governor. 

A new settlement was started at Carlisle Bay and 
called Bridgetown, from a bridge built across the 
inlet known to-day as the "Careenage." 

Troubles arose between the two parties, in which 
the Jamestown people were defeated. 

The colony prospered and increased rapidly, in 1645 
the inhabitants numbering eighteen thousand, which 
in five years increased to thirty thousand, only one 
fifth of whom were negro slaves. At this period 
many Royalists fled from England to Barbados 
until the royalist party in the island became so power- 
ful that upon the execution of Charles the First the 
Barbadians declared themselves subjects of Charles 
the Second. 

Lord Willoughby, a royalist exile, was elected gov- 



APPENDIX 359 

ernor and under him the Barbadians attempted to 
resist an expedition sent against them by Parliament 
in 1651. 

Between 1650 and 1660 a great number of Irish 
and Scotch captives of the Cromwell wars were sent 
to Barbados and sold as slaves at 1500 pounds of sugar 
per head. They were branded and mutilated to pre- 
vent escape and were treated with greater inhumanity 
and brutality than the negroes, but many of them 
managed to rise to affluence and became planters. 
Locally known as "Red Legs, " from the fact that they 
were mainly wearers of kilts with, bare knees, these 
white slaves of Barbados were looked upon with con- 
tempt even by the blacks. Many of their descend- 
ants are living in Barbados to-day and, while free men 
and women, they are usually poverty-stricken, anasmic, 
listless, miserable specimens of humanity; a condition 
due very largely to intermarriage and the ravages of 
the hookworm. 

Negro slavery was abolished in 1834, but by then 
the blacks had increased prodigiously and even by 
the middle of the eighteenth century numbered over 
sixty thousand. 

Indians were also captured on the other islands and 
brought to Barbados as slaves. 

After the Restoration, Barbados had little excite- 
ment save for slave uprisings which were quelled by 
gibbeting, beheading, burning alive, or otherwise 
torturing the leaders. 

In 1751-1752, George Washington, who was at 
that time a major in the British Colonial Forces, made 



3 6o APPENDIX 

a visit to the island. This was his only foreign voyage, 
and it was made in order to benefit his brother Law- 
rence, who was suffering with tuberculosis. 

During their stay in Barbados the Washingtons 
were exposed to smallpox and the "Father of his 
Country" was taken ill with the disease and did 
not recover for a month. No one knows which house 
the two brothers occupied in Barbados, but it was 
near Bridgetown and, judging by the description in 
George Washington's diary, was undoubtedly near the 
present barracks or at Hastings. 

Barbados is one of the few islands of the Lesser 
Antilles which was never invaded by a foreign foe and 
which has remained continuously British from the 
first. 

During the war of 1812 the island suffered from 
the activities of American privateers, and in 1 816 the 
worst negro uprising of her history occurred. The 
mutiny was not quelled until vast areas of cane had 
been burned, many estates destroyed, innumerable 
blacks killed and executed, and over five hundred 
negroes exiled. As a result the whites have held su- 
premacy in Barbados and the blacks are ruled with a 
firm hand. 

Among the places of interest on the island are: 
the Old Barracks, Hastings Rock, the Race Course, 
Holetown, Queen's Park, Belleville, all near Bridge- 
town. The Barbados Light Railway. The Crane, 
Bath, Bathsheba, Martin's Bay, and other beautiful 
seaside resorts on the windward coast. Lion Rock 
at Gun Hill. Animal Flower Cave. Christ Church, 



APPENDIX 361 

St. John's Church, and the tomb of the last Christian 
King of Greece. Harrington College. Codrington 
College. Farley Hill and Mansion, Turner's Hall, 
Wood, and Boiling Spring. Cole's Cave, Hackleton's 
Cliff, Scotland district, sugar estates, etc. 

Numerous excellent hotels and innumerable board- 
ing places. Furnished and unfurnished cottages and 
bungalows at Bridgetown, Hastings, and other towns 
and at seaside resorts. 

Carriages, automobiles, and boats for hire. 

Reached by Quebec S. S. Co. (about fourteen 
days) from New York; also by Lampert and Holt Line; 
Booth Line; Lloyd Braziliero Line, etc. By Royal 
Mail (Canadian line) from Bermuda, Halifax, and 
other islands, and under normal conditions by various 
French, German, Italian, and other ships. 

Language, English. Currency British, but terms 
"dollars and cents" almost universally used and five- 
dollar Colonial Bank notes, as well as Royal Bank of 
Canada notes, in circulation. U. S. money accepted 
readily. 

Barbuda 

A dependency of Antigua and about thirty miles 
north of that island. Small and flat, about seventy- 
five square miles in area. 

Population about seven hundred blacks and a very 
few whites. 

Only town, Codrington Village. 

Exports and products, wood, hides, skins, and 
jerked meat. 



362 APPENDIX 

Formerly the property of the Codrington family, — 
a sort of island manor. Well stocked with game. 
No hotels or boarding places. 
Reached by sailboat from Antigua. 

Battowia 

One of the Grenadines, which see. 

Beata 

A small island belonging to the Dominican republic 
and situated off the southern coast of Santo Domingo. 
Language, Spanish. Currency, U. S. 

Becquia 

One of the Grenadines and under the jurisdiction 
of Grenada. Wooded and with hills eight hundred 
feet in height extending through the island. Length, 
six miles; width, one mile. 

Population mainly blacks. 

Products, cattle, sheep, goats, cotton, and cocoa. 

Reached by packet boats from Grenada. 

Language and currency as in Grenada. 

BERMUDA 

A group of nearly three hundred islands, cays, and 
reefs situated in the Atlantic Ocean about 750 miles 
southeast of New York and six hundred miles east of 
Charleston, South Carolina. 



APPENDIX 363 

Total area about twenty square miles. Low, flat, 
and of so-called "coral" formation, but in reality 
composed entirely of wind-drifted, solidified beach 
sand. No springs, streams, or fresh water ponds on 
the islands. 

Population about 18,000. Capital, Hamilton, with 
2300 inhabitants. St. George is also an important 
port and was formerly the capital. 

Principal products and exports are onions, potatoes, 
early vegetables, Easter lilies, and garden truck. 

Climate remarkably equable, healthy, and pleasant, 
but damp and often chilly. Frost unknown. Not 
tropical. 

Discovered by a Spaniard, Juan Bermudez, in 15 15, 
while on a voyage from Spain to Cuba with a cargo of 
hogs. The historian, Oviedo, was on board the 
vessel — the Garza — and recorded the discovery. 
Later, in 1543, visited by Ferdinand Camelo, a Portu- 
guese, who claimed possession but did not remain. 

I n J 593 an Englishman, Henry May, who was on 
board a privateering or pirate vessel, was wrecked up- 
on the North Rocks. May and his companions re- 
mained in Bermuda for five months and finally built 
a vessel of native cedar in which they sailed for New- 
foundland, where they arrived in May, 1594. 

In 1609 the Sea Venture with 150 people, among 
whom were Sir George Somers and Sir Thomas Gates, 
sprang a leak during a storm while en route from Eng- 
land to Virginia. To save the ship she was run 
ashore on the Bermudas. The shipwrecked people 
landed in July, 1609, and saved a large portion of the 



364 APPENDIX 

supplies and provisions of their vessel. They lived 
upon the island until the following May and then set 
out for Jamestown in two vessels they had built of the 
native cedar. Reaching Virginia safely they found 
the colony in destitute circumstances, and Sir George 
Somers decided to return to Bermuda for supplies and 
sailed in the vessel built on the islands. He died 
soon after reaching Bermuda and his comrades left for 
England, carrying his body, but leaving his heart in 
Bermuda, where it rests to-day. 

Three men refused to leave the islands, however. 
From the accounts of Somers' men, an English colony 
was started in Bermuda in 1612. 

The three men left had lived and had discovered a 
large amount of ambergris, which was at once taken 
from them by the governor on his arrival. A settle- 
ment was made at or near St. George and named in 
honor of Sir George Somers, the islands also being 
christened "Somers Islands" in his memory. 

By the end of 1615 several vessels had arrived and 
the colony numbered over three hundred souls. 

They were prosperous and unfortunate by turns 
and suffered many hardships at the hands of Governor 
Tucker, but by 1620 had grown to an important 
colony, with a general assembly, forts, public buildings, 
and roads, and a map was published by Captain John 
Smith in 1624. 

In 1665, Captain Wentworth made a piratical raid 
on Tortola, in the Virgin Islands, and stole ninety 
negro slaves. Various other semi-piratical ventures 
were also undertaken by the Bermudians. In 1710 



APPENDIX 365 

the governor of Bermuda sent an armed vessel against 
the freebooters of the Bahamas and over a hun- 
dred of the buccaneers were brought to Bermuda as 
settlers. 

In the same year the Bermudians attacked and 
captured a party of Spaniards who had invaded Turk's 
Island in the Bahamas. 

In addition to the original English, there were the 
mixed nationalities comprising the pirates in Bermuda, 
as well as many negroes, and, to complete the choice 
assortment, many American Indians were brought 
as slaves from New England. 

In 1775 the sympathies of the islanders were strongly 
in favor of the rebellious colonists of New England 
and, to aid General Washington in his campaign, the 
Bermudians stole one hundred barrels of gunpowder 
from the magazines on the island. 

Despite this, Bermuda remained loyal to England 
and when the Civil War broke out their ports became 
a famous rendezvous for blockade runners. 

Places of interest to visitors are: Gibbs Hill Light, 
Floating Dock and Naval Station at Ireland Island; 
Cathedral, or Old Church Rocks; Mount Langdon; 
Prospect Hill; Hungry Bay and fossil palm trees; lily 
fields; "Five Sisters" near Hamilton; Spanish Point; 
Fairylands; stone quarries; Stalactite Cave on Tuck- 
er's Island; Biological Station on Agar's Island; 
Harrington Sound; Lion Rock; Devil's Hole; Payn- 
ter's Vale; Shark's Hole; Tuckerstown Natural Arch; 
Penniston's Cave; Walsingham and Tom Moore's 
calabash tree; Crystal Cave; Walsingham Cave; 



366 APPENDIX 

Blue Grotto; coral reefs and marine gardens; Cause- 
way; Castle Island and old forts; St. Georges. 

Innumerable boarding houses and splendid ho- 
tels everywhere. Principal islands of group : Ireland 
Island; Somerset Island; Hamilton or Main Island; 
Long Bird Island; St. George Island; St. David 
Island. 

Carriages, bicycles, horses; and boats to hire, but 
motor cars not allowed, except a bus line under 
government supervision. 

Reached by Quebec S. S. Co. (about two days) from 
New York; by Royal Mail, Canadian Line, from 
Halifax and West Indies, and, under normal condi- 
tions, by Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. 

Language, English. Currency nominally British, 
but to large extent United States. 

Buen Ayre or Bonaire 

A Dutch possession under the government of Cu- 
racao. 

About three hundred miles west of Curacao. Area 
about one hundred square miles. 

Population about one thousand 

Chief products, fish, divi-divi, aloes, salt, goats, and 
sheep. 

No hotels or boarding places. 

Reached by packet boats from Curacao. 

Language and currency as in Curagao. 

Cannouan 

One of the Grenadines, which see. 



APPENDIX 367 

Carriacou 

Largest of the Grenadines and about twenty miles 
north of Grenada. 

Area about 13 square miles or 8467 acres. Highest 
land, Bellevue North, 980 feet. Many hills and small 
mountains of sharp pyramidal form, with luxuriant 
tropical vegetation, but most of original forest growth 
cut off. 

Population about seven thousand. A fine almost 
landlocked harbor at Harvey Vale Bay on southwest 
coast. 

Fertile, well-watered, and cultivated. Chief prod- 
ucts are cotton, limes, cocoa, fruits, and vegetables. 

Language and currency as in Grenada. 

No regular hotels. 

Reached by coastal steamers from Grenada. 

CAYMANS 

A group of small islands 180 miles northwest of 
Jamaica and under the government of that island. 
Grand Cayman, the largest of the group, is 17 miles 
in length by four to eight miles wide. Low but well- 
wooded islands, once the haunt of pirates and 
buccaneers. Now devoted mainly to cocoanuts, 
mahogany, dye woods, cedar and timber industries. 
Hats, baskets, fans, etc., are also exported. Popu- 
lation of Grand Cayman about 5000. 

Other islands are Cayman Brae and Little Cayman, 
about 70 miles from Grand Cayman and seven miles 
apart. Each is about ten miles long by a mile in 



368 APPENDIX 

width and with a combined population of about 900. 
Devoted almost exclusively to cocoanuts. 

Reached by small boats or packet from Jamaica. 

Language, English. Currency, British Sterling. 

Crab Island 

Also called Vieques. A small island belonging to 
the United States and thirteen miles east of Porto 
Rico. Mountainous, with heavy forests of timber 
and with fertile valleys in which tropical fruits, coffee, 
cane, etc., are raised. Many cattle are exported. 
Length about twenty-one miles. Width about six 
miles. Population about six thousand. 

Chief town, Isabel Segunda, with a church, munici- 
pal hospital, and nine public schools, but no hotels 
or boarding places. On the southern coast is another 
port called Punta Arenas. 

Reached by sailing vessels from Porto Rico or St. 
Thomas. 

Language, English and Spanish. Currency, U. S. 

Cuba 

Largest of the West Indies and nearest to the 
United States, being distant only ninety miles from 
Key West. An independent republic with sovereignty 
guaranteed by United States. 

About 780 miles in length and varying in width 
from twenty to one hundred miles. Area about 
45,000 square miles, one fourth of which is moun- 
tainous, the balance plains, valleys, and swamps. 



APPENDIX 



369 



Highest land, the Sierra Maestra range in south- 
eastern part of island, 8320 feet and second loftiest 
mountains of West Indies. 

More than fifty good harbors which are ports of 
entry and many of which are completely landlocked. 

Over 150 important rivers, only one of which, the 
Cauto in Santiago Province, is navigable for any great 
distance. 

Population about 3,000,000. Capital and chief 
port, Havana on northwest coast, with about 300,000 
inhabitants. Havana is the largest city in West 
Indies and more merchandise enters and leaves its 
harbor than any port of United States except New 
York. Other large and important towns are the fol- 
lowing. (Population only approximate.) 



Santiago de Cuba 


46,000 


Cardenas 


25,000 


Cienfuegos 


30,000 


Manzanillo 


16,000 


Santa Clara 


17,000 


Sagua la Grande 


13,000 


Guanabacoa 


15,000 


Pinar del Rio 


10,000 


Trinidad 


12,000 


Jovellanos 


10,000 


Marianao 


10,000 


Caibarien 


9,000 


San Antonio de los 


Holguin 


8,000 


Banos 


10,000 


Camaguey 


30,000 


Guines 


9,000 


Sancti Spiritus 


18,000 


Placetas 


7,000 


Guantanamo 


15,000 


Matanzas 


36,000 






The island is divided into six provinces as 


follows : 


Oriente 


Camaguey Santa Clara 


Matanzas 


Havana Pinar del Rio 



84 



370 APPENDIX 

Cuba's resources are almost unlimited. There are 
vast mineral riches, important fisheries, valuable 
woods, enormous agricultural opportunities, and im- 
mense areas of grazing lands. 

The heaviest forests are in eastern Cuba, the 
greatest mineral deposits in the mountains of the 
southeast; the best grazing lands in the central por- 
tions of the island, and the only large swamps are 
along the southern central coast. 

The flora of Cuba comprises over three thousand 
species, including the entire range of the tropics, and 
the forests contain such valuable woods as mahogany, 
lignum-vitas, cedar, and logwood. _A11 the tropical, 
and many of the temperate fruits and vegetables, may 
be grown to perfection. 

Among the mineral riches are iron, copper, gold, 
manganese, cinnabar, lignite, asphalt, petroleum, etc. 
The sponge fishery is an important industry, tortoise 
shell is obtained in large quantities, pearls occur in 
the waters among the outlying cays, and the food 
fishery is of vast importance. 

Cuba is one of the few countries in the world whose 
exports exceed the imports, the balance in favor of the 
island amounting to over $3200 per capita, the per 
capita commerce being over one hundred dollars 
and exceeding that of any other country, with the 
exception of the Argentine Republic. 

And this despite the fact that the island's per capita 
debt is very high, amounting to about twenty-eight 
dollars and that only a small portion — about 1,800,000 
acres — of her soil is under cultivation. 



APPENDIX 371 

Annual exports about $250,000,000. 

Annual imports about 155,000,000.00 

Principal exports are: 
Sugar valued at over $150,000,000.00 

Tobacco " " " 60,000,000.00 

Fruits and vegetables over 10,000,000.00 

Cocoa, asphalt, honey, sisai, timber over 10,000,000.00 
Miscellaneous over 10,000,000.00 

Cuba's climate is exceedingly pleasant and salu- 
brious, in fact the island is the healthiest spot in the 
world, the mortality being but ten per thousand as 
against sixteen per thousand in the United States. 

On the coast it is hot at times, but the maximum 
temperature ever recorded was 98 on August 24,1899, 
and only four times in six years has it risen above 95 . 
The minimum temperature recorded was 47 on Janu- 
ary 27, 1901. The average for the hottest and coolest 
months, over a period of six years, was: June, 8o°; 
July, 8o°; August, 8i°; September, 8o°; January, 70 . 

Much of Cuba is outside the hurricane zone and 
only on five occasions has the weather bureau at 
Havana recorded a wind velocity exceeding thirty- 
five miles per hour. No record of a severe gale or 
hurricane is known from Havana, although the east- 
ern and southern coasts suffer at times. 

Average rainfall fifty-four inches annually. Almost 
any desired climate may be found. In the high 
interior lands and mountains it is very cool, whereas 
the towns on the coast, especially in the south, are 
very hot during the middle of the day. 



372 APPENDIX 

Cuba was discovered by Columbus on October 28, 
1492. Although greatly pleased with the beauty of 
the island he never sailed around it, and died in the 
belief that it was a continent. 

In 1508, Spaniards under Ocampo explored the coast 
line and entered the bay, which is now Havana's 
harbor, for the purpose of careening and pitching their 
ships with the native asphalt. The island was first 
named Juana in honor of Prince Juan, son of Ferdi- 
nand and Isabella, but upon the death of the king was 
rechristened Fernandina and was later changed to 
Santiago and still later to Ave Maria. The pres- 
ent name of Cuba is of Indian origin and means a 
"jar of oil." 

In 151 1 Don Diego Velasquez, with four ships 
and with Hernando Cortez among the party of three 
hundred men, sailed from Santo Domingo for Cuba and 
landed near the present site of Guantanamo on the 
southern coast. They were not impressed with the 
spot and not until 15 12 was the first settlement estab- 
lished at Baracoa, on the northern coast. Santiago 
was founded by Velasquez in 15 14 and Havana in 
1 519. The original landing-place at Havana is now 
marked by a building known as the "Templete. " 
For many years Havana and the other towns were 
greatly troubled by pirates and the Fuerza and Punta 
forts and the Morro were built mainly as a protection 
against such enemies, the Fuerza being erected under 
the direction of De Soto in 1539. It is the oldest 
building in Havana to-day. 

Havana was attacked by Sir Francis Drake in 1592, 



APPENDIX 373 

by Dutch buccaneers in 1628, and was totally de- 
stroyed by the French in 1538 and again in 1554. 

Vast fortunes were at that time stored at Havana, 
in transit from Mexico and Panama to Spain, and to 
protect these riches from the freebooters the city wall 
was begun in 1665, and, with its completion, the city 
became almost impregnable, but was taken by Lord 
Albemarle and the British fleet in 1762, and remained 
under British rule for a year. Among the officers 
taking part in this battle was General Israel Putnam 
of Revolutionary fame. 

Santiago was the capital until 1608, and was fre- 
quently attacked by pirates and other nations. Cap- 
tured by the French in 1553 and ransomed for $80,000 
and taken by British in 1662. In 1663 the Santiago 
Morro was rebuilt and strengthened and withstood 
all subsequent assaults until the Spanish-American 
war. 

The first revolt against Spanish rule was in 1850-51 
and was led by Narciso Lopez. In August, 1868, the 
famous "Ten Year's War " broke forth, but the Cubans 
were unsuccessful and not until the revolution of 
1895, which culminated in the evacuation of the Span- 
iards on January 1, 1899, was Cuba freed from the 
misrule of Spain. 

The island then became a possession of the United 
States and was delivered to the Cubans May 20, 
1902. 

About Havana there are innumerable places of in- 
terest, among which are the following. (Numerals 
refer to map of Havana.) 



374 APPENDIX 

i . Alameda. Formerly the favorite parade ground 
but now in the midst of the busy shipping 
district. Reached by Aduana cars, or by walk 
through Officios Street. 

2. Albear Square. Junction of San Rafael, 

O'Reilly, and Obispo Streets, one block 
from Central Park. Statue is of Senor 
Albear, the engineer who built Havana's 
present water supply system. 

3. Albisu Theater. Albear Square and San Rafael 

Street. 

4. American Club. Prado and Virtudes Street. 

Surmounted by eagle and initials "A. C. " 

5. Angeles Church. On Montserrate Street, 

two blocks from Central Park. Near by is 
the Loma del Angel, narrowest street in 
Havana. 

6. Belen Church. Corner Compostela and Luz 

Streets. Connected by a covered bridge 
with the convent school across the street. 
Contains a museum, valuable library, and 
notable paintings. Open to public. 

7. Caballera Wharf. Landing-place for small 

boats. Foot of Obispo and O'Reilly Streets. 

8. Campo Marte. With statue of La India. Also 

known as India Park. Upper end of Prado, 
facing Colon Park. 

9. Cathedral. Founded by Jesuits in 1656 and 

completed in 1724. Formerly contained sup- 
posed bones of Columbus. (See San"Domingo.) 
Silver altar valued at $10,000,000 and many 



APPENDIX 375 

jeweled vestments. On Emperado Street, 
corner of San Ignacio. 

10. Central Station. Terminal of United and 

Central Railways. Egido Street — continu- 
ation of Montserrate Street — short distance 
from Central Park on trolley line. 

1 1 . Christ Church. Villegas and Amargura Streets. 

In rear is the Augustinian College. 

12. City Hall. Only small portions remain, the 

best and most accessible being between 
Zulueta and Montserrate Streets, near Henry 
Clay Cigar Factory. 

13. Clerk's Club. Headquarters of protective and 

benefit association of over 35,000 members. 
Corner Prado and Trocadero Street. 

14. Colon Market. One block from Central Park 

on Montserrate Street, reaching through to 
Zulueta Street, and between Animas and 
Trocadero Streets. 

15. Colon Park. Occupies twelve squares at 

upper end of Prado, opposite La India 
statue. 

16. Congressional Buildings. Facing Plaza de 

Armas on O'Reilly Street. 

17. Custom House (Aduana) . Reached by Aduana 

cars or by walking south two blocks from 
Albisu Theater on Montserrate Street and 
turning to left at Teniente Street. On 
Officios Street at foot of Teniente Rey Street. 

18. Customs Warehouse. Formerly the church of 

San Francisco. Never used as church since it 



376 APPENDIX 

was desecrated by British in 1762. Near 
Custom House close to Machina Docks. 

19. Dominican Convent and Church. Founded 

1578. Opened as school by Dominican Friars 
1728. Became University of Havana and 
removed to larger quarters on Principe Hill. 
O'Reilly, Mercaderes, Obispo, and San Ignacio 
Streets. 

20. Francisco de Paula Church. Facing harbor 

on Paula Street. 

21. Fuerza Fort. Reached by Aduana cars, or 

by walking down either Obispo or O'Reilly 
Streets. Faces Plaza de Armas on O'Reilly 
Street. Oldest building in Havana, built by 
De Soto, 1539. 

22. Henry Clay Cigar Factory. Three blocks 

from Central Park on Zulueta Street. Open 
to visitors. 

23. House of Representatives. Plaza de Armas, 

south side. 

24. Jail. Now used as office of Board of Education 

but formerly the Spanish prison. A large build- 
ing at the foot of Prado on the right-hand 
side. 

25. Leper Hospital. Faces the sea at Malecon 

Drive and Oquendo Street. Founded 1681, 
by donation of Mexican priest. 

26. Luz Wharf. Ferries for Casa Blanca, Regla, 

and Guanabacoa leave from here. Close to 
Plaza de Armas. 

27. Malecon Drive. A beautiful drive along sea- 



APPENDIX 377 

wall from Punta Castle, at foot of Prado, to 
Vedado (residential district). 

28. Marti Theater. One block east of Prado at 

corner of Zulueta and Dragones Streets. 

29. Merced Church. Richest and most aristo- 

cratic church in Cuba. Built in 1746. Con- 
tains many notable paintings. Cuba and 
Merced Streets. 

30. Miramar Hotel. Facing the sea on left-hand 

side of the Prado on the Malecon. 

31. National Bank. Havana's "sky-scraper." 

The American Consulate is on the fifth floor. 
Up-to-date, fireproof building built in Spanish 
style with patio. Corner Cuba and Obispo 
Streets. 

32. National Library. Open week days from 

8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Contains over 20,000 
volumes and many rare old books, among 
them works of Las Casas, printed in 1552, and 
History of New World, published 1565. On 
Chacon Street at corner of Maestranza Street. 

33. National Theater. Cuba's largest theater 

and fifth largest in the world. Built seventy- 
six years ago and cost half a million dollars. 
Now rebuilt and forming a portion of the 
magnificent new group of buildings occupying 
the square bounded by Consul ado, San 
Rafael, and Prado and facing Central Park. 

34. Pairet Theater. Faces Central Park on the 

south, between Prado and Zulueta Streets. 

35. Palace (old). Plaza de Armas, Obispo, and 



378 APPENDIX 

O'Reilly Streets. The magnificent new pal- 
ace is on the Prado facing Central Park. 

36. Palace of Justice. Cuban Department of 

State and Justice. To the left as one leaves 
the cathedral. 

37. Paula Hospital for Women. Between Ha- 

vana and Cuba Streets on San Isidro Street. 

38. Pelota Court. This place, known as the 

"Fronton, " is where the famous Basque game 
of pelota is played; the favorite game of the 
Spaniards and Cubans and second only to 
baseball in popularity. Oquendo and Con- 
cordia Streets. 

39. Plaza de Armas. Occupies the square at foot of 

O'Reilly and Obispo Streets. Around it are the 
Templete, Post Office, Old Palace, and Fuerza. 

40. Produce Exchange (La Lonja). A splendid 

new building on San Francisco Plaza near 
San Francisco Wharf. Reached by Muelle or 
Aduana car lines or by walking down O'Reilly 
or Obispo Street. 

41. Punta Fort. Commenced at same time as the 

Morro, in 1589. At foot of Prado. 

42. San Juan de Dios Park. Contains a statue of 

Cervantes. Between Aguilar and Habana 
Streets one block from O'Reilly Street, on 
Emperado Street. 

43. San Lazaro Tower. A watch tower erected as 

a lookout against pirates in the old days. 
Near the Leper Hospital close to the shore on 
the Malecon Drive. 



APPENDIX 379 

44. Santa Catalina Church and Convent. Built 

in 1698. Situated on O'Reilly Street. Con- 
tains many relics. 

45. Santa Clara Church and Convent. Founded 

1644. Sol and Luz Streets, between Cuba 
and Havana Streets. 

46. Students' Memorial. In Neptune Park at 

foot of Zulueta Street and Prado, near La 
Punta fort. Erected in memory of eight 
University students who were executed on the 
spot in 1 87 1. 

47. Tacon Market. Havana's largest market. 

One block west of Colon Park on La Reina 
Street. Reached by trolley cars through 
Angeles or Reina Street. 

48. Templete. A small chapel erected to com- 

memorate landing of first settlers of Havana. 
A ceiba tree, — a descendant of the original 
tree under which first mass was said, — stands 
beside the building. Open but once a year, 
on the night of November 15th — when lighted 
and decorated on anniversary of landing. 
Foot of O'Reilly Street, fronting Plaza de 
Armas. 

49. Treasury. Foot of Obispo Street on narrow 

lane turning to the right. 

50. Ursuline Convent. About two blocks from 

Central Park, south on Egido Street near 
Dragones Street. 
Notable spots which should be visited in the vicinity 
pf Havana are: The Morro and Cabanas across the 



380 APPENDIX 

bay; Atares Castle; Principe Fortress; Botanical 
Gardens; Baseball grounds (Almendares Field) ; Regla; 
Colon Cemetery, — where the victims of Maine dis- 
aster were interred; Marianao Playa with its lovely 
sea bathing; Campo Columbia, etc. 

About Santiago there are also many notable places 
of interest, among them the Morro Castle; house 
of Hernando Cortez; Higginson School; Filarmonia 
Theater, where Patti first appeared in public when 
fourteen years old; monument to Americans of 
Virginius; Alameda; San Carlos Club; San Juan 
Battlefield; Peace Tree; El Caney; Cobre copper 
mines. The miraculous image of Nuestra Senora de 
la Caridad and shrine, with offerings and jeweled 
robes valued at over $10,000,000. 

Throughout the interior, and along the coasts there 
are also many beautiful, fascinating, interesting spots 
too numerous to mention, but the Caves of Bellamar 
and Yumuri Valley near Matanzas; the tobacco dis- 
trict about Pinar del Rio; the ancient town of Cama- 
guey, or Puerto Principe, sacked by Henry Morgan, 
although far from the coast; Batabano, a little Venice 
with houses on stilts and from which the steamers sail 
for Isle of Pines ; the famous Trocha, and many other 
places will well repay a visit or, better still, a trip 
from Havana to Santiago by railway should be taken. 

Havana's hotels are palatial, numerous, and strictly 
modern, and there are also innumerable boarding 
places and excellent restaurants. In every town of 
any importance there are first-class hotels and any- 
where in Cuba a traveler may be perfectly comfortable. 



APPENDIX 381 

Carriages, locally called "cabs" or "coches, " are 
everywhere and are ridiculously cheap. (See tariffs 
carried by every public vehicle and don't pay more.) 
Trolley cars run here, there, and everywhere about 
Havana, boats and launches ply back and forth upon 
the harbor, and there are many public automobiles. 
Most of the towns of Cuba are in direct communi- 
cation with Havana by railway or electric lines ; coastal 
vessels connect the coast ports, and there is not 
the least difficulty in traveling anywhere on the island 
(see "Railways, steamboat lines, etc."). 

Cuba is reached from New York by United Fruit 
Co., and by the New York and Cuba Mail S. S. Co. 
(Ward Line) ; by railway to Florida and hence by ferry 
or steamer from Key West, and from Boston, New 
Orleans, Philadelphia, and all other large ports by 
direct steamships. 

The language of Cuba is Spanish, but in every hotel, 
on all the railway and steamboat lines, and in all the 
larger stores and shops the employes, or at least some 
of them, speak English. There is no difficulty in 
finding interpreters and most of the educated Cubans 
speak both French and English fluently. The coinage 
of Cuba is its own, but Spanish, French, and United 
States coins are accepted and the basis is the dollar 
or "peso" of one hundred cents or "centavos," 
with a gold standard. 

Culebra 

A possession of the United States off the eastern 
coast of Porto Rico. An important naval station 



382 APPENDIX 

where is stationed a detachment of the TJ. S. Marine 
Corps. Aside from the naval station at Great Har- 
bor there are two small towns on Culebra, Pueblo 
Dewey and Camp Roosevelt. 

Culebra is hilly but not mountainous; dry, but the 
soil is fertile. Cattle raising is the only industry. 

No hotels or boarding houses. 

Places of interest: Naval station. Reached by 
mail boat from Fajardo, Porto Rico; by boats from 
San Juan or by sailboat from St. Thomas. 

Language, English and Spanish. Currency, U. S. 

Curasao 

A Dutch island and seat of government of Dutch 
West Indies of which Curacao is the largest island. 

About forty miles off the Venezuelan coast. Length 
about forty miles; width four to seven miles. Area 
200 square miles. Highest mountain iooo feet above 
sea. Discovered by Amerigo Vespucci in 1499, who 
reported the island inhabited by a race of giants. 

Chief town, Willemstadt, with a population of 
about 20,000. Total population about 30,000. 

Mainly of importance for its commerce, as it is a free 
port, but exports phosphate rock, ostrich plumes, 
fish, and other products. 

Several good hotels and boarding houses. 

Points of interest: The bridge of boats across en- 
trance to the harbor. Old pirate forts. Ostrich farm. 
Publishing house of Betancourt Co. Quaint Dutch 
architecture. 



APPENDIX 383 

Language officially Dutch, but English generally- 
spoken. The native tongue is a strange lingo called 
Papiamento, and a mixture of Dutch, English, Span- 
ish, Negro, French, Portuguese, and probably some 
Indian. Currency, Dutch. 

Reached by Royal Dutch W. I. Line from New York 
or by Red "D" Line from New York via Porto Rico. 

Desirade or Deseada 

A dependency of Guadeloupe and east of the latter. 
First landfall of Columbus on his second voyage in 
1493 and named by him "The Desired Land." Area 
about ten square miles. Of limestone formation and 
curiously terraced. 

Population about 1500, mostly blacks. 

No hotels or boarding places. 

Reached by sailboat from Guadeloupe. 

Language as in Gaudeloupe. Currency, French. 

Dominica 

A British colony of the Leeward Island Confedera- 
tion and largest of the group. Situated fifteen miles 
north of Martinique and about twenty-five miles south 
of Guadeloupe. Extremely mountainous and rugged, 
volcanic in formation and with several active, but 
dormant, craters. Loftiest of the Lesser Antilles, 
the highest peak being Morne Diablotin, 5300 feet; 
but Microtin, Trois Pitons, and several other moun- 
tains are nearly as high. Home of last of the pure- 



384 APPENDIX 

blooded yellow Caribs, the aborigines of the Antilles. 

About three hundred Caribs live in Dominica, of 
whom not over thirty-five are of unmixed blood. 

Length of island about 30 miles; width 16; area 300 
square miles or about 200,000 acres, of which less 
than 90,000 are under cultivation. 

Population about 35,000, less than one per cent, 
of whom are white. 

Capital, Roseau, with 7000 inhabitants. 

Other ports Soufriere, Portsmouth, Rosalie, Grand 
Bay, etc. 

Discovered by Columbus in 1493 and named in 
honor of the day, Sunday. 

First settled by British in 1627. Driven out by 
Caribs and settled by French, who also abandoned 
it to Indians. Afterwards declared a "neutral 
island" and left to Caribs until 1748. Seized by 
English in 1763 and later changed hands repeatedly 
until ceded permanentl}'' to Great Britain in 1805. 
Most important naval battle between French and 
English fleets occurred off western coast of the island 
in 1782, when Rodney defeated De Grasse. 

Climate very healthy, hot on coasts but cool in 
interior, with excessive rainfall, amounting to over 
three hundred inches annually in mountains. 

Chief products: limes, lime juice, lime oil, cocoa, 
fruits, and spices. 

Points of interest: Botanic station at Roseau; 
library and old fort, Roseau; lime estates, craters at 
Soufriere, mountain or fresh water lake, boiling lake, 
hot springs of Wotten Waven, waterfall near Roseau, 



APPENDIX 385 

old fort at Scott's Head, imperial road into interior, 
Carib settlement at Salybia. 

La Paz Hotel and several good boarding places in 
Roseau. 

Reached by Quebec S. S. Line (about ten days) 
from N. Y.; Royal Mail (Canadian) boats from 
Halifax and Bermuda and from other British W. I. 
ports, and, under normal conditions, by Royal Mail 
(Intercolonial) boats. 

Language officially and nominally English, but the 
natives use patois to large extent. 

Currency British, but terms "dollars and cents" 
used almost universally. Colonial banks. Five-dollar 
bills are also used, as well as notes of Royal Bank of 
Canada. 

Dominican Republic 

The eastern portion, consisting of about two thirds 
of the area, of the island of Santo Domingo. An 
independent republic under the . semi-supervision of 
the United States Government, which controls the 
customs and guarantees constitutional rights and 
elections. 

Situated between Cuba on the west and Porto Rico 
to the east, the island of Santo Domingo is one of the 
most beautiful and fertile of the West Indies and the 
second largest of the Greater Antilles. The Domini- 
can Republic has an area of about 20,000 square 
miles and is the most mountainous of the West Indies 
as well as the loftiest; Mount Loma Tina rising to 
35 



386 APPENDIX 

11,000 feet above the sea. There are large areas of 
level land, however, vast tablelands and plains, enor- 
mous valleys, and extensive swamps. 

The population numbers about 600,000, and, unlike 
Haiti, a large percentage of the inhabitants are white, 
or very slightly tainted with negro blood. Capital, 
Santo Domingo City, the oldest city in the New World, 
founded in 1496 on the Ozama River in the southern 
part of the republic. Population about 30,000. Other 
important towns are : Monte Christi, on the northern 
coast, founded in 1523, with a population of 10,000, is 
the outlet of the Yaqui Valley and is close to the Hai- 
tien border famous as a nucleus of revolutions. Puerto 
Plata, also on the northern coast, is at the seaward 
terminus of the railway to Santiago de los Caballeros 
on the interior tableland. It has a population of 
about 15,000 and is beautifully situated on an almost 
landlocked bay at the foot of Isabella de Torre, 2000 
feet in height. Founded in 1502. Near Puerto Plata, 
about fifty miles west, are the ruins of Isabella, the 
first European city founded in America and first 
settled by men under Columbus in 1493. 

Samana or Santa Barbara de Samana, on the north- 
ern coast of Samana Bay, in the eastern portion of the 
republic, is also an important town of about 10,000 
inhabitants and was founded by Canary Islanders in 
1756, but has a large population of negroes from the 
United States who immigrated to the district many 
years ago. Sanchez, at the head of Samana Bay, is the 
terminus of the Samana-La Vega railway and has a 
population of about 3000. La Vega, the inland termi- 



APPENDIX 387 

nus of this railway, has a population of about 30,000; 
settled in 1564 after the original town of Concepcion de 
la Vega (founded by Bartholomew Columbus in 1495) 
was destroyed by an earthquake. Moca, with about 
30,000 inhabitants, between La Vega and Santiago, 
is an important inland town, as is Santiago de los 
Caballeros, the interior terminus of the Puerto Plata 
railway, and which has a population of about 45,000 
and was founded by "gentlemen" (caballeros) of 
noble birth in 1504. San Francisco de Macoris, con- 
nected with La Vega by railway, has a population of 
about 30,000 and is the center of the cocoa industry. 
On the southern coasts are : La Romana, an important 
sugar port; San Pedro de Macoris on the Higuano 
River and with a population of about 15,000, an 
important shipping point for the sugar mills of the 
Seybo district. Azua, west of Santo Domingo City, 
is also an important sugar port. It was founded by 
Diego Velasquez in 1504 and has a population of about 
20,000. There are also many other towns of great 
historical interest and local importance, such as San 
Cristobal; Bani, the birthplace of the Cuban patriot, 
General Maximo Gomez; Barahona; Neyba, near 
which is the Cero de Sal, a mountain of rock salt; 
Higuey in the Seybo district, founded by Ponce de 
Leon; Sabana la Mar on the southern shore of the 
Bay of Samana, and near which is the immense cocoa 
plantation of the Souchards; Junico, in the pine belt 
of the interior; as well as many smaller towns dating 
back to the days of Columbus. 

The resources of the Dominican Republic are almost 



388 APPENDIX 

innumerable. Vast mineral wealth abounds but is 
undeveloped. Gold, silver, copper, iron, nickel, salt, 
petroleum, lignite, cinnabar, tin, and amber are known 
to exist, and in the Spanish days the island was the 
greatest source of precious metals of all the New 
World colonies. Vast pine forests cover the interior 
mountains; mahogany, lancewood, cedar, and other 
cabinet woods abound; logwood grows luxuriantly, 
and any tropical, and many temperate, products can 
be easily grown. 

The chief exports are cacao, cocoanuts, fruits, 
hides, timber, logwood, mangrove bark, sugar, coffee, 
tobacco, salt, etc. 

The climate varies greatly according to the district 
and altitude but is healthy in nearly every portion of 
the republic. In the interior it is cool and spring- 
like, but on some parts of the coasts very hot and dry. 

The republic has a long, turbulent, but romantic, 
history. Discovered by Columbus in December, 
1492. First settled by him the following year, the 
island was known for many years as " Hispaniola. " 
In 1496, Bartholomew Columbus — the admiral's 
brother — founded Santo Domingo City. It was here 
that Columbus was confined in chains and here it is 
believed he lies buried to-day. During the subsequent 
centuries, the island passed through many wars and 
innumerable slave insurrections; was French, Spanish, 
English, and independent by turn, and, since it became 
a republic, it has suffered greatly from continual 
revolutions. 

Places of interest are too numerous to mention in 



APPENDIX 389 

full, but important places about Santo Domingo City 
are : The tomb of Columbus, in the ancient cathedral ; 
the Homenaje Tower, oldest fortress in America; 
Columbus's well, Columbus's tree (to which he is said 
to have moored his caravels) ; house of Diego Colum- 
bus, son of Christopher; ruins of San Francisco 
convent and of Dominican convent, where Las Casas 
conducted first university in New World; Santa 
Barbara Church, city wall and gateways, plaza and 
statue of Columbus. Scenic attractions are: The 
waterfalls near Puerto Plata, Vega Real on Samana- 
La Vega railway, buccaneers' strongholds on islands 
in Samana Bay, Caverns at San Lorenzo on south 
shore of the bay, mountain of salt at Neyba, Lake 
Rincon and Lake Enriquillo, Seybo plains, cocoa 
estates, La Sosua near Puerto Plata, site of Con- 
cepcion de la Vega and Holy Hill (Santo Cerro); 
ruins of Isabella, the first settlement in America, etc. 

Several hotels in the capital, Puerto Plata, and other 
coast towns, and inns or boarding places in every town 
of importance, but none is really good and the traveler 
must put up with a great deal of discomfort and 
many inconveniences, as conditions are most primi- 
tive. Probably the best hotels are at Puerto Plata. 

Reached by Clyde West Indian Line, via Turk's 
Island from New York. These steamers touch at 
every port of importance from Monte Christi to Azua 
and return. Also by irregular and uncertain small 
steamers from Porto Rico and Cuba. Under normal 
conditions by West Indian ships of Hamburg-Ameri- 
can Line. 



390 APPENDIX 

Language of Dominican Republic is colloquial 
Spanish, but English is understood to some extent 
in most of the larger towns. Currency in use is that 
of the United States, but Dominican coins are in circu- 
lation at greatly depreciated value. 

GONAIVES OR GONAVE 

A large island in the gulf of the same name off the 
western coast of Haiti and belonging to that republic. 
About thirty-five miles long by eight miles wide. 
Heavily wooded but scantily inhabited by negro 
fishermen and woodcutters. A large lake exists on the 
island. Length about forty miles. 

Grenada 

Seat of government of the British Windward Island 
Confederation. About 70 miles southwest of St. 
Vincent and 96 miles north of Trinidad. 

Length about 20 miles; width about 12 miles; area 
about 120 square miles or 77,000 acres, of which 
about 40,000 are cultivated. Very mountainous and 
fertile. Of volcanic formation but with no active 
craters. Highest peak, Mount St. Catherine, 2750 
feet. Numerous streams and rivers and three good- 
sized lakes occupying extinct craters at high altitudes. 

Population about 60,000 (191 1). Capital and chief 
port, St. Georges, with about 5000 inhabitants. 
Other towns are Grenville, on the Atlantic or eastern 
coast, with 1400 inhabitants; Gouyave, about 12 miles 



APPENDIX 391 

north of St. Georges, with a population of about 
3000; Sauteurs, on the northern coast, with about 
1200 inhabitants; and Victoria, 1600 inhabitants. 

Chief products and exports are cocoa, nutmegs, 
spices, cotton, rubber, kola nuts, fruits, and some 
sugar. 

The climate is delightful and remarkably healthy. 
Yellow fever has not been epidemic for one hundred 
years, malaria and other tropical diseases are not 
troublesome, and severe hurricanes have never oc- 
curred, although the fag-ends of hurricanes which have 
been disastrous in neighboring islands have often 
reached Grenada without causing material damage. 
Earthquakes are of frequent and regular occurrence, 
but no serious damage has ever been caused by them 
and they are usually very light. 

During the rainy season, from May until December, 
it is rather hot on the coast, but always cool and pleas- 
ant in the hills. Average annual temperature, 83 
on the coast. Highest recorded, 93 . In the interior 
it frequently falls as low as 67 during the night. 
Average annual rainfall at St. Georges, seventy-seven 
inches. 

Discovered by Columbus, August 15, 1498, and 
for over one hundred years left in undisputed posses- 
sion of the Caribs. First settled by the British, April 
1, 1609, when 208 colonists reached the islands only to 
be driven off by the Caribs. 

Claimed by both French and British from 1626-38. 
In the latter year the French attempted a settlement, 
but were repulsed by the Caribs, who were then left 



392 APPENDIX 

undisturbed for twelve years. In 1650 the French 
"Company of the Islands of America" sold Marti- 
nique, Grenada, and St. Lucia to MM. Houll and Du 
Parquet, for £1660. With two hundred men the new 
owners landed in June, 1650, and purchased the 
island from the Caribs for hatchets, knives, beads, and 
two bottles of brandy. In February, 1651, the Indians 
repented of their bargain and rose against the French, 
but the latter, reinforced with trained troops, con- 
ducted a war of extermination, accompanied by most 
inhuman atrocities, and killed most of the Caribs, 
driving the last organized band off a precipice on the 
northern coast which is known as Morne des Sauteurs 
or "Leapers' Hill" to this day. The last Caribs of 
Grenada died in 1705. Le Compte, the leader of the 
French against the Caribs, met speedy retribution for 
his murderous acts and was drowned when returning 
to St. Georges (then Fort Royal). 

In 1657, the inhabitants revolted against the brutal 
French governor, and capturing him, condemned him 
to be hanged. By claiming royal blood he induced his 
captors to alter his punishment to decapitation, but 
finding there was no proficient executioner on the 
island they compromised by shooting him. 

On February 4, 1762, the island was taken by the 
British and was placed under the jurisdiction of the 
Lieutenant-Governor of Dominica. In 1771, St. 
Georges, which was of wooden construction, was 
totally destroyed by fire, and another disastrous 
conflagration took place in 1775, after which the town 
was rebuilt of brick, stone, and tile. 



APPENDIX 393 

Recaptured by the French, June, 1779, but restored 
to Great Britain, by treaty of Versailles, September 

3. 1784- 

In 1795, the French and negroes, incited by the new- 
French Republic, joined in an insurrection and 
butchered the English at Grenville at midnight 
March 2d, and carried many captives from other 
districts into their mountain fastnesses. Lieutenant- 
Governor Home was in the country at the time and 
while on his return to the capital was taken prisoner 
by the revolutionists. As only 192 soldiers were 
on the island at the time, requests for aid were sent 
to the other British islands and to the Spaniards in 
Trinidad. The latter at once despatched armed 
vessels and troops, but were unable to cope with the 
situation and garrisoned the forts until the arrival of 
British reinforcements, who, under General Lindsay, 
attempted to storm the intrenched camp of the French 
and their negro allies. They were unsuccessful, how- 
ever, many of the English were attacked by fever, 
and General Lindsay, temporarily insane from fever, 
committed suicide. Meanwhile the white captives of 
the insurrectionists were tortured and butchered in 
sight of the British soldiers as reprisal for being 
attacked. Not until the 19th of June, 1796, was the 
insurrection finally quelled. 

On April 1, 1833, Grenada was made a part of the 
Windward Island Confederation and on May 22, 1838, 
the emancipation of the slaves was declared. 

No event of great importance occurred until 1867 
when, on November 18th, a submarine volcanic dis- 



394 APPENDIX 

turbance took place in the harbor of St. Georges. The 
water receded for five or six feet. In certain spots it 
boiled furiously and emitted sulphurous vapors, and 
then the water rose for four feet above its normal 
level. Four times this phenomenon was repeated, 
and while great damage to shipping and property was 
caused there was no loss of life. Great changes in the 
bottom of the harbor occurred during the disturbance, 
which was coincidental with the earthquake and tidal 
wave at St. Thomas and St Croix. 

Places of interest are: The town of St. Georges; 
Gran Etang, a fresh-water lake in an extinct crater; 
Morne de Sauteurs, where the last of the Grenada 
Caribs were forced to leap from the cliff into the sea 
to avoid massacre by the French; public gardens 
near St. Georges, Government House, old forts, and 
cocoa and nutmeg plantations. 

One hotel, not very good, and a few boarding places 
at St. Georges. 

Rest House at Gran Etang. 

Reached by Trinidad Line (Trinidad Shipping 
& Trading Co.) seven days from New York ; by Royal 
Mail (Canadian) Line from Halifax, Bermuda and 
other islands, and, under normal trade conditions, by 
the Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. 

Language, English, but a large proportion of the 
colored population speaks patois or Creole. Currency, 
British, but Colonial Bank and Royal Bank of Canada 
notes are in circulation. 



APPENDIX 395 

Grenadines 

A group of British islands lying between Grenada 
and St. Vincent and under jurisdiction of Grenada. 

Very varied in size and character. Many fertile, 
well wooded, and mountainous; others low, barren, 
and sterile. Highest point one thousand feet above 
sea. Principal islands are Bequia, Union, Baliceaux, 
Battowia, Cannouan, and Carriacou. 

Area of entire group about ten thousand acres. 

Principal products : cocoa, cotton, spices, dyewoods, 
fish, cattle, and goats. 

Reached by packet boats from Grenada, or by sail- 
boat from St. Vincent. 

Language and currency as in Grenada. 

Guadeloupe 

A French island about sixty miles south of Antigua 
and twenty-five miles north of Dominica. 
. Comprises five separate islands : Guadeloupe proper, 
Grande Terre, Marie Galante, Desirade, and the 
Saintes, with a total area of about 700 square miles. 
Guadeloupe, the northern and western portion, is ex- 
ceedingly mountainous and of volcanic formation with 
an active crater, the Soufriere, which is the highest 
point of land, reaching a height of 5000 feet. 

Very fertile, rugged, and heavily forested. Grande 
Terre, the southern and eastern portion of the island, 
is low, flat, and of limestone or ancient coral formation. 
Very fertile and devoted to agriculture and with 



396 APPENDIX 

nearly every available inch under cultivation. Marie 
Galante and Desirade (which see) are calcareous, 
pyramidal, lofty, and curiously terraced in form. 

The Saintes are three small volcanic islets rising to a 
height of iooo feet. All are wooded. 

Population of all five islands about 200,000. 

Capital, Basseterre, on Guadeloupe, with a popula- 
tion of about 10,000. Chief port, Pointe-a-Pitre, on 
Grande Terre, with 18,000 inhabitants. 

Chief products and exports: sugar, cocoa, coffee, 
cabinet woods, dyewoods, and spices. 

Climate healthy and delightful in the mountains, 
hot and none too salubrious in the lowlands. 

Discovered by Columbus on his second voyage in 
1493 and first spot where the Spaniards found the 
native aborigines, called Caribs, with human flesh 
being cooked in their pots. Settled by the French 
and has been French, British, Dutch, and French by 
turns. 

Places of interest are the various public buildings 
and gardens at Pointe-a-Pitre, government building 
at Basseterre, sugar mills and estates, forest scenery, 
and the Soufriere crater, which is somewhat difficult 
of ascent, but can be visited from Basseterre. 

Several hotels and boarding houses at Pointe-a-Pitre 
and Basseterre. 

Reached by Quebec S. S. Line (about nine days) 
from New York and by Compagnie Generale Trans- 
atlantique, from the French islands, Colon, and Porto 
Rico. 

Language, French among the upper classes; patois, 



APPENDIX 397 

or colloquial, French among the common people. A 
few merchants and natives of other islands may be 
found who speak English. Currency, French, but a 
local French West Indian coinage is in circulation. 
British and American currency passes among the 
merchants and British silver is accepted by the market 
people. 

Haiti 

The western one third of the island of Santo Do- 
mingo. An independent negro republic commonly 
called the "Black Republic" and now under a partial 
protectorate of the United States. 

An extremely fertile, luxuriant, well wooded, and 
beautiful country with many lofty mountains, exten- 
sive plains, and broad rich valleys. Area about 
9000 square miles. 

Population about 1,500,000, of whom less than 10 
per cent, are white or of mixed blood, the great bulk 
of the inhabitants being semi-civilized, ignorant blacks 
who have reverted to many of the habits of their 
African ancestors. 

Capital and largest city, Port-au-Prince, with 
about 70,000 inhabitants. Other important towns 
are Jacmel, southeast of the capital, with a beautiful 
harbor, Miragoane west of Port-au-Prince, Petit 
Goave, Aux Cayes, Jeremie, on the tip of the 
Tiburon Peninsula; Gonaives and St. Marc on the 
western coast, the former with 18,000 inhabitants; 
Mole St. Nicholas at the extreme northwestern tip 



398 APPENDIX 

of the republic; Port de Paix on the northern coast, 
and Cape Haitien also on the northern coast and 
famous as the spot where Columbus was shipwrecked 
on his famous voyage in 1492. 

With unbounded resources, Haiti could be the most 
prosperous and wealthy of lands, but while a large 
amount of produce is exported, constant revolutions, 
an ignorant population, and slothfulness and lack 
of ambition have kept it from development and 
prosperity. The principal products and exports are 
coffee, cocoa, sugar, dye woods, timber, hides, and 
tobacco. 

Climate is healthy, away from the towns ; hot on the 
coasts, but delightful in the hills. None of the towns 
are fit for human beings under present conditions, but 
sanitation and enterprise could make them as healthy 
and delightful as those of Cuba or Porto Rico. 

Haiti's history is one of massacre after massacre 
and untold cruelties. Discovered by Columbus in 
1492, a temporary settlement was made at Cape 
Haitien, a fort was erected, and the wreckage of the 
Santa Maria was collected and drawn ashore. This 
was called La Navidad by Columbus in honor of 
Christmas Day, on which his vessel was wrecked. 
Upon his return the following year, Columbus found 
his fort destroyed and burned and the garrison 
massacred. 

Later, settlements were made at various points 
and the district of the north was acquired by the 
French by treaty in 1697. 

In 1 79 1 a slave insurrection broke out, the leader 



APPENDIX 399 

being one Toussaint l'Ouverture, and under his direc- 
tion the negroes were successful and the French were 
butchered and driven from the island. At that time 
there were half a million blacks and less than seven 
thousand whites in Haiti and the Europeans were 
helpless. To subdue the negroes, a force of sixty 
thousand troops and a fleet of men-of-war were sent by 
Napoleon and the blacks retreated to the mountains. 
Toussaint was captured and died in a French prison, 
but his followers committed awful butcheries, yellow 
fever aided them, and the French troops succumbed by 
thousands. The French, under Rochambeau, strove 
to outdo the negroes in atrocities and the blacks 
retaliated in kind and as a result Haiti literally ran 
with blood. Only the arrival of a British force saved 
the French from annihilation and they gladly sur- 
rendered to their white enemies. After the evacu- 
ation by the French in 1804, the blacks and colored 
people swore to renounce France and under Dessalines 
butchered the few remaining whites, and, ever since, 
the island has been in possession of the negro race, 
although subject to many conflicts among them- 
selves and with their neighbors of the Dominican 
Republic and European powers. 

Places of interest are the ruins of the Black King's 
Castle, Sans Souci, at Cape Haitien, La Coupe, the 
summer residence of the better class of people of Port- 
au-Prince, and the few public buildings of the towns. 

No decent hotels or boarding houses, although 
accommodations, of a sort, may be had in the larger 
towns. 



4 oo APPENDIX 

Reached by Royal Dutch West India Line from 
New York and, under normal conditions, by steamers 
of Hamburg- American (Atlas) Line. 

Language, French among better classes; patois, 
or colloquial, French among lower classes. Currency, 
Haitien, but United States and British as well as 
French currency is in circulation. 

Isle of Pines 

An island sixty miles off the southern coast of Cuba 
and belonging to that republic. 

About 900 square miles in area, or about 575,000 
acres. Approximately one fourth of the island is low 
and swampy, and inundated in rain} 7 seasons ; the re- 
mainder high, broken, and mountainous. Much arable 
and fertile land, many rich valleys, and well watered 
with rivers and streams. 

Well forested with mahogany, pine, and other timber 
trees and with many mineral springs. 

Population mainly citizens of United States who 
have exploited the island as a tropical Eden and a spot 
where fortunes may be made in lands and fruit 
growing. 

Chief port, Nueva Gerona. Santa Fe is seventeen 
miles inland. 

Chief products and exports : mineral waters, timber, 
fruit; marble quarries are in the Crystal Hills, — 
Cerros de los Cristales, — and wild game abounds. 

Formerly a famous resort for pirates and later for 
wreckers, and used as a penal settlement by the 
Spaniards. 



APPENDIX 401 

Climate healthy and delightful, save in the rainy- 
season. 

Places of interest nil, aside from the various colonies 
and buildings erected by Americans. 

Hotels and boarding places in the towns. 

Reached by steamer from Batabano, thirty-six 
miles by railway from Havana. 

Language, mainly English, although Spanish is 
spoken by the native Cubans. Currency, as in Cuba 
(officially), but United States currency in common use. 

Jamaica 

A British island, third largest of the Greater Antilles, 
situated 90 miles south of eastern Cuba and 100 miles 
southwest of Santo Domingo. Approximately 1500 
miles from New York and 540 miles from Colon. 

About 145 miles in length and 50 in width with an 
area of 4207 square miles or 2,692,587 acres of which 
some 100,000 acres are under cultivation. 

A mountainous island, with highest peak of Blue 
Mountains 7360 feet above the sea. Many lesser 
peaks are from 4000 to 6000 feet. No active volcanic 
craters. Of very ancient formation. Abundantly 
watered, with innumerable rivers and streams, few 
of which are navigable. Well wooded, fertile, and 
luxuriant. 

Population about 700,000. Capital, Kingston, with 
about 50,000 inhabitants. Other important towns 
are : Port Royal across the bay from Kingston, Span- 
ish Town, Mandeville, 2200 feet above the sea and a 

a6 



402 APPENDIX 

famous health resort, Montego Bay, on the north 
coast, Ewarton, Moneague, Port Antonio, the head- 
quarters of the banana industry, Port Morant, St. 
Ann's, Savanna la Mar in the southwest and the port 
for the logwood district, as well as many smaller 
towns, villages, etc. 

Jamaica's industries are agricultural, as are her 
resources, and although gold, copper, manganese, and 
other metals occur they have never been worked on a 
commercially profitable scale. The principal exports 
are fruits, mainly bananas and oranges, dye and cabi- 
net woods, coffee, sugar, rum, pimento, cocoanuts, 
cocoa, and various other tropical products. 

Climate delightfully cool and extremely healthy 
in the highlands and seldom unbearably hot in the 
coastal towns, except on the southern coast out of 
reach of the trade winds. 

Discovered by Columbus in 1494. In 1502-04, on 
his last voyage to the West Indies, Columbus beached 
his vessels, which were unseaworthy, on the north 
coast of Jamaica and remained there for a year, until 
rescued by an expedition sent from Santo Domingo. 
The spot where he spent those twelve months of 
suffering, mutiny, and hardship is known as Don 
Christopher's Cove and is between St. Ann's Bay and 
Annotta Bay. First settled by Spanish at "Sevilla 
Nueva," now St. Ann's, and later on the southern 
coast at Old Harbor and other points. Spanish Town, 
then called Santiago de la Vega, was founded in 
1520. 

Spanish occupation continued until 1655, when the 



APPENDIX 403 

English, under Admiral Penn and General Venables, 
conquered the island. First British governor ap- 
pointed 1661, and capital established at Spanish Town, 
1664. In 1670, Jamaica was formally ceded to the 
British. 

On June 7, 1692, Port Royal, which had become the 
headquarters of the buccaneers and was famed as the 
"richest and wickedest city in the world," was de- 
stroyed by an earthquake. The town, with three 
thousand houses, most of its inhabitants, and all its 
wealth, slipped into the sea. Captain Henry Mor- 
gan,— the noted pirate, — after the sack of Panama, 
was made governor of the island. 

During the years of warfare between Spanish and 
British, thousands of slaves escaped and fled to the 
mountain forests, where they developed into a race 
of semi-savages known as "Maroons." From 1730- 
34 these "Maroons" constantly harassed the planters 
and settlements, but were so strongly fortified in the 
forests that all expeditions sent against them were 
defeated. Not until 2500 acres of land were ceded 
permanently to the Maroons and freedom granted 
them by treaty, were the Jamaicans left in peace. 
In 1760 occurred a serious slave uprising, and in 1795 
the Maroons again attacked the whites and for a year 
desperate warfare was waged against them. At last a 
new treaty was made, and more than five hundred of 
the Maroons were exiled to Sierra Leone and Nova 
Scotia. 

In 1744 Savanna la Mar was destroyed by earth- 
quake, and other tremors caused considerable damage 



4 04 APPENDIX 

from time to time. In 1838 emancipation of slaves 
was proclaimed, but in 1865 another outbreak of the 
blacks occurred and Montego Bay was attacked and 
many whites slaughtered. The uprising was finally 
quelled by troops, and the ringleader, S. W. Gordon, a 
planter, merchant, and politician, was arrested and 
hanged. 

Since that time the most important events in Ja- 
maica's history have been earthquakes and hurricanes. 
In 1880 a hurricane killed thirty people in Kingston, 
destroyed most of the wharves and many houses, and 
did a vast amount of damage, and in December, 1882, 
a fire devastated forty acres of the town and destroyed 
six hundred buildings, causing a loss of over one 
million dollars. On August 11, 1903, another hurri- 
cane swept Jamaica, destroying crops, buildings, 
and cultivation and entailing a loss estimated at 
over ten million dollars. But by far the worst 
of such catastrophes was the earthquake, and sub- 
sequent fire, which practically destroyed Kingston 
and caused terrific damage in other places on Janu- 
ary 14, 1907. During this quake over one thousand 
lives were lost and the most important streets and 
buildings of Kingston were converted to worthless 
ruins. But the island quickly recovered and the 
town was rebuilt. An important event of more 
recent date was the stupendous production of a 
moving-picture film which took place in Jamaica in 
1915-16. This film, which cost over one million 
dollars, required thousands of people, the erection 
of a large city, and an unprecedented demand for 



APPENDIX 405 

labor, supplies, and accommodations, and placed 
a tremendous amount of money in circulation in 
Jamaica. 

Places of interest are very numerous. In Kingston 
and its vicinity are King's House, Institute of Jamaica, 
where are the famous "Shark Papers," Race Course, 
Hope and Castleton Gardens, Port Royal, Fort 
Charles. Scenic and other attractions are Bog Walk, 
Rio Cobre, Spanish Town, Dry River, Chinchona 
Plantation, caves at Ewarton, St. Elizabeth, St. 
Thomas, River Head, Dry River, etc., Roaring 
River Falls and Fern Valley, near Moneague, Natural 
Bridge near Riversdale, Cane River Falls, Don Christo- 
pher's Cove, near Annotta Bay, Milk River Baths and 
hot springs. 

Hotels of the highest class, boarding places, and 
furnished cottages and bungalows are numerous in all 
important towns and resorts. 

Over two thousand miles of good roads and nu- 
merous railway lines, as well as coastal steam- 
boats, afford easy access to all parts of the island. 
Horses, carriages, motor cars, boats, and launches for 
hire. 

Reached by United Fruit Co. (about five days) 
from New York and Gulf ports, and, under normal 
shipping conditions, by Royal Mail Steam Packet 
Co. 

Language, English. Currency, British, but Colonial 
Bank and Royal Bank of Canada notes and United 
States currency in circulation and terms "dollars and 
cents" used almost universally. 



4 o6 APPENDIX 

Leeward Islands 

A group of islands forming a confederation under 
British rule and which includes St. Kitts, Nevis, 
Antigua, Barbuda, Montserrat, Dominica, Anguilla, 
and the British Virgin Islands. 

Five presidencies make up the confederation and 
areas follows: St. Kitts, Nevis, and Anguilla; Antigua, 
Barbuda, and Redonda; Montserrat; Dominica; Vir- 
gin Islands. 

Each presidency has an administrator, or commis- 
sioner, while the governor-general has his residence 
and seat of government in Antigua. 

See descriptions of individual islands. 

Margarita or "Pearl Island" 

A dependency of Venezuela off the coast of that 
country and about twenty miles from the town of 
Cumana. 

About 50 miles long by 5 to 20 miles in width. Two 
mountain ranges, 4000 feet above the sea, run through 
the island which is nearly divided by a huge lagoon. 
Mountainous and little cultivated. 

Population about 20,000. Capital, Asuncion. 
Chief port, Pampatar. 

Chief products and exports, pearls and pearl shell, 
hammocks, hats, tiles, and lace. 

About one million dollars' worth of pearls and shell 
exported annually. Some of the largest pearls in the 
world have been taken from the waters about this 



APPENDIX 407 

island. Pearls first discovered at Margarita by Colum- 
bus in 1498. 

Climate dry and healthy. 

Few places of interest aside from pearl fisheries. 

No regular hotels. 

Reached by Royal Dutch West India Line from 
Cumana. By sailboat and packet from Venezuela, 
Trinidad, and Curagao. 

Language, Spanish. Currency as in Venezuela. 

Marie Galante 

A French island and a dependency of Guadeloupe. 
South of the latter. 

Of calcareous formation, terraced in form, with a 
flat table-like summit seven hundred feet in height. 

Population about 17,000, mostly blacks. 

Discovered by Columbus, 1493, and named after 
his flagship. 

No hotels or boarding places. 

Reached by small boat or packet from Guadeloupe. 

Language and currency as in Guadeloupe. 

Martinique 

A French colony fifteen miles south, of Dominica 
and about twenty miles north of St. Lucia. Birth- 
place of Josephine, Empress of France. Scene of 
most disastrous volcanic eruption of modern times. 
St. Pierre, capital of the island, destroyed with loss 



408 APPENDIX 

of thirty to forty thousand lives and nearly one fourth 
of island devastated by Mt. Pel£e, May, 1902. 

Length about 30 miles; width about 15 miles. 
Area 500 square miles. A mountainous, volcanic 
island, rich, and luxuriant with forests and verdure. 
Highest peak is Morne Pel£e, 4400 feet. 

Population about 200,000. Capital and chief port, 
Fort-de-France, with 30,000 inhabitants. 

Chief products, cocoa, sugar, coffee, spices, and 
dye and cabinet woods. 

Climate hot on coast, healthy as a. whole and de- 
lightfully cool in hills. 

Discovered by Columbus, 1502. First settled by 
French in 1635. Seized by British in 1762, 1781, 
1794, and 1809, and ceded to France in 18 14. Uninter- 
ruptedly French since. 

Places of interest are ruins of St. Pierre, crater of Mt. 
Pele*e, birthplace of Josephine at Trois Islets, church 
where she was christened at Trois Islets, statue of the 
Empress at Fort-de-France, old Fort Royal at Fort-de- 
France, Canal de Gueydon, Fort-de-France. Scenery 
of interior. 

Numerous hotels and boarding places in Fort-de- 
France. 

Motor cars, sailboats, horses, and carriages for hire. 
Coastal steamers and diligences connect principal 
towns. 

Reached by Quebec S. S. Co. (about 12 days) from 
New York, Compagnie Generale Transatlantique 
from French colonies and Porto Rico. Language, 
French. Currency as in Guadeloupe. 



APPENDIX 409 

MONA 

An island off the western coast of Porto Rico and 
property of United States. Barren, scrub-covered, 
and of no value except for the lighthouse. A favorite 
spot for Porto Rican sportsmen, as many wild fowl 
resort to it and there are wild goats, etc., on the island. 

MONTSERRAT 

A British island, one of the Leeward Island con- 
federation southeast of St. Kitts and southwest of 
Antigua. 

Length about twelve miles ; width seven miles. Vol- 
canic and with an active crater known as the "Sou- 
friere. " Very mountainous and well wooded in the 
central and northern parts, but with broad valleys 
and fertile plains sloping from central range of moun- 
tains to the leeward coast. Highest peak, 3000 feet. 

Population about 14,000. Capital and port, Ply- 
mouth, with about 6000 inhabitants. Few whites on 
the island. 

Chief products, limes and lime juice, sugar, fruits, 
and garden truck. 

Climate very healthy and pleasant. Average 
temperature from 70°-85°. 

Discovered by Columbus, 1493. First settled by 
English, 1632. Seized by French, 1664. Recaptured 
by British, 1668. Retaken by French in 1782. Eng- 
lish since 1784. Many of the early settlers were Irish 
and their traits and characters, together with names, 



410 APPENDIX 

have been transmitted to colored people now living on 
the island. 

Little of interest, aside from the people and the 
crater of Soufriere. 

Reached by Royal Mail (Canadian) boats from 
Halifax, Bermuda, and other islands ; occasionally by 
ships of Quebec S. S. Co., and, under normal condi- 
tions, by intercolonial boats of Royal Mail Steam 
Packet Co. 

No good hotels or boarding places. 

Language, English, usually with a distinct brogue. 
Currency, British, with Colonial and Royal Bank of 
Canada notes. 

Nevis 

One of the British Leeward Islands a few miles south 
of St. Kitts and under government of latter. 

Of volcanic formation with a very perfect, extinct 
volcanic cone about 4000 feet in height. Bulk of land 
fairly level and sloping gently to base of mountain. 
Area about 50 square miles or 35,000 acres, about half 
of which are, or have been, under cultivation. 

Capital and port, Charlestown. Formerly James- 
town was the capital, but on April 30, 1689, this town 
was submerged by an earthquake. The ruins are still 
visible beneath the sea. 

Principal products, sugar, molasses, cotton, and 
some sisal. 

Climate exceedingly healthy and pleasant. At 
one time famous as a health resort and watering place 



APPENDIX 411 

throughout the West Indies, Europe, and America. 
Many hot and medicinal springs on the island. 

Discovered by Columbus, 1493, and named "Nieve" 
from the snow-like effect of clouds about the moun- 
tain summit. 

Famous as birthplace of Alexander Hamilton, and 
as spot where Admiral Nelson was married. 

Places of interest are the ruins of Hamilton's House, 
Old Fig Tree Church and marriage register contain- 
ing entry of Nelson's wedding, ruins of once famous 
"Bath House," thermal springs, and submerged city. 

No hotels or boarding houses, but accommodations 
may be obtained in private houses at Charlestown. 
Horses and carriages for hire. 

Reached by sailboat or packet from St. Kitts. By 
Royal Mail (Canadian) boats from Halifax, Bermuda, 
and other islands, and occasionally by ships of Que- 
bec S. S. Co. 

Language and currency as at St. Kitts. 

Norman Island 

A small and unimportant islet of the British Virgin 
Island group. South of Tortola. Area about two 
thousand acres. 

Formerly a resort of pirates and buccaneers. Treas- 
ure is reputed buried here. 

Oruba 

One of the Dutch islands under government of 
Curacao and west of the latter at the entrance to 
Gulf of Maracaibo. 



4 i2 APPENDIX 

Area about 75 square miles. 

Population about 1000. 

Chief products, aloes, salt, fish, goats, and sheep. 

No hotels. 

Reached by packet from Maracaibo or Curagao. 

Language and money as in Curacao. 

Porto Rico 

A colony of the United States, one of the Greater 
Antilles, situated about forty miles west of St. Thomas 
and fifty miles east of Santo Domingo. 

Smallest of the Greater Antilles, about 100 miles 
long by 36 miles wide. Area about 3500 square miles. 
Very mountainous and rugged in the interior, with 
broad valleys, tablelands, and plains. Once heavily 
wooded, but now almost denuded of forests, save in 
the northern forest reserve and in isolated mountain- 
ous districts. Highest peak, El Yunque, 3600 feet. 
Very fertile and well watered with numerous rivers, 
none of which are navigable. 

Population about a million, of whom less than 
fifty thousand are negroes, the principal population 
being of almost pure Spanish descent, although there 
are many colored and mixed races. Capital and chief 
port, San Juan, on the northern coast, with about 
fifty thousand inhabitants. 

Ponce, on the southern coast, and Mayaguez on the 
west, as well as Arecibo, are all important ports. 
Many coastal and interior towns of great value and 
importance are connected by excellent roads or by 



APPENDIX 413 

railway with the capital and various ports. The 
island is divided into sixty-nine districts, or municipali- 
ties, each of which is practically autonomous. In 
most cases the chief town is of the same name as its 
municipality. 

The resources of Porto Rico are very great, but are 
mainly agricultural, although gold, iron, copper, and 
other minerals occur and have not been exploited. 
Principal products are sugar, tobacco, fruits, vege- 
tables, and coffee. 

Climate very pleasant and exceedingly healthy, 
Porto Rico ranking second healthiest country in the 
world. On the coasts the climate is rather hot, but in 
the hills and mountains it is cool and pleasant. Aver- 
age temperature of coastal districts for summer 8o°, 
for winter 75 . Average humidity at San Juan, for 
winter 75 ; for summer 8i°. Rainfall from forty-five 
inches in dryer districts, to two hundred inches per 
year in wettest districts. 

Discovered by Columbus in 1493. In search of 
water Columbus landed at or near the present site of 
Aguadilla and named the island San Juan BatUista, 
the native name being Borinquen. On board of one of 
Columbus's ships was Juan Ponce de Leon who was so 
attracted by the new land that in 1508 he sailed 
from Santo Domingo and landed near the present 
town of Aguada. Traveling eastward he found a 
sheltered bay which he christened Puerto Rico, and 
being well received by the Indians he returned to 
Santo Domingo and related his discoveries to Governor 
Ovando. The latter furnished De Leon with sup- 



4H APPENDIX 

plies and men to settle Puerto Rico, where he landed 
in 1509. At a spot he called Caparra he started a 
settlement which was later abandoned in favor of the 
present site of San Juan. From here he set forth 
on his famous search for the Fountain of Youth, and 
in 1 512 he sailed again, but was wounded by an In- 
dian's arrow and died in Havana. 

From 15 1 6 until 1798 the island was constantly- 
attacked by invaders and in 1535 and 1543 the French 
sacked and burned several towns. In 1565, Sir 
John Hawkins tried his hand at taking. Porto Rico 
and in 1572 the famous privateer, Sir Francis Drake, 
also attacked it, but both were driven off. In 1595 
they tried once more, attracted by vast treasure on 
galleons in the harbor, but they were badly beaten, 
Hawkins dying off the eastern coast of the island 
and Drake succumbing ere he reached Porto Bello, 
towards which he set sail. Once more, in 1597, the 
British attacked San Juan with a fleet of twenty 
ships under Lord Cumberland. They landed at 
Santurce, and were on the brink of victory when 
pestilence broke out among the troops and the}' 
were compelled to abandon the siege. In 1625 a fleet 
of Dutch ships bombarded the fortresses of San Juan, 
but without success. The next serious attack was in 
1797, when Sir Ralph Abercromby landed at San- 
turce, and after two weeks of furious hand-to-hand 
fighting the British were driven off with great loss. 
Not until one hundred years later was the island 
seriously disturbed. Then the war vessels of the 
United States, under Admiral Sampson, shelled San 



APPENDIX 415 

Juan's forts, but with scarcely more effect than 
the fleets of Drake and Hawkins, and the Porto 
Ricans were left in peace until the United States 
troops landed on the southern coast and marched 
overland, to be halted near Cayey by the news that 
the peace protocol had been signed. In August, 1898, 
the island was formally given over to the United 
States. 

Places of interest are numerous, especially about 
San Juan. Among them may be mentioned the 
Morro, San Sebastian, and San Cristobal forts, San 
Geronimo, Casa Blanca or house of Ponce de Leon, 
San Juan church and statue of Ponce de Leon, the 
cathedral, with tomb of Ponce de Leon, old palace, 
now the governor's residence, old city wall and gates, 
prison, old churches, statue of Columbus, and Colon 
Plaza, etc. In the outlying country are many interest- 
ing sights and in nearly every town are places of 
historic or other interest. 

Several fair hotels and boarding places in San 
Juan and many excellent boarding houses and a 
first-class hotel at Santurce. Several hotels in Ponce 
and hotels more or less comfortable in every town of 
any size. Innumerable automobiles for hire, regular 
motor car service over the island, many "jitney" lines, 
trolley cars, and steam railways. 

Reached by New York & Porto Rico Line (about 4 
days) from New York or by Red "D" Line steamers 
from New York and from Venezuela and Curacao. 
Under normal conditions by various British, French, 
Italian, and German steamers from Colon, Jamaica, 



416 APPENDIX 

St. Thomas, Europe, South America, and the other 
West Indian islands. 

Language, officially" English. Practically all the 
Porto Ricans use Spanish exclusively and few outside 
of the larger towns understand or speak English. In 
the stores, hotels, and offices and on the railways, 
trolley lines, and public conveyances there is usually 
someone who speaks English. 

Currency the same as in United States. 

Redonda 

A lofty, isolated rock belonging to Antigua and 
west of the latter, about midway between St. Kitts 
and Montserrat. 

Altitude about iooo feet. 

Population (when mining operations are going on) 
about ioo, mostly black laborers. 

Only product, phosphate rock. 

Saba 

A Dutch island between St. Kitts and St. Croix. 
About 40 miles west of St. Kitts. 

Merely an enormous volcanic cone rising abruptly 
from the sea for 3000 feet. Area about 5 square miles. 
No harbor or safe anchorage. Upper mountain 
sides verdured, lower slopes grown over with stunted 
brush, creepers, and cacti. No heavy forests. Inte- 
rior valleys and hillsides fertile and cultivated where- 
ever possible. 



APPENDIX 417 

Population about 2000. Chief town, Bottom, situ- 
ated about 1000 feet above the sea in a crater and 
with about 1500 inhabitants. Rest of people live at 
smaller villages, or "districts," known as Windward 
Side, Hell's Gate, St. John's, and Leverack's Town. 
No wheeled vehicles, all traveling being done afoot, 
on horseback, or in chairs carried by negroes. 

Chief products, fruit, vegetables, — including white 
potatoes and other temperate vegetables and fruits, — 
lace and drawn-work, and boats. Men mainly sailors, 
many of them officers of steamships and trans- 
atlantic liners. 

Climate extremely healthy and pleasant, perpetu- 
ally spring-like or temperate, rather than tropical. 

Places of interest are the "Ladder," a flight of 
eight hundred stone steps leading from landing place to 
town; the Devil's Warming Pan, a hot stone which 
is never wet or cool, even in the hardest rains; the 
Sulphur Mine, and the town of Bottom. 

No hotels or boarding houses. 

Reached by small boat from St. Kitts or St. Eusta- 
tius. 

Language, Dutch, but English understood and used 
by nearly everyone. Currency as in Curacao, but 
British money readily accepted. 

Saintes (The) 

Small, rocky, volcanic islands belonging to Guade- 
loupe and south of the latter. About 1000 feet in 
height. 

«7 



418 APPENDIX 

Saint Bartholomew, commonly Called St. 
Bart's 

A French island and dependency of Guadeloupe, 
40 miles north of St. Kitts. 

Hilly, with one peak rising to iooo feet. No fresh 
water ponds or streams. Area about 8 square 
miles. 

Population about 3000, nearly all black or colored. 

Capital and port, Gustavia. 

Belonged to Sweden until 1878, when ceded to 
present owners. At one time resort of pirates and 
buccaneers. Vast treasure supposed to be buried on 
the island by Montbars, known as "The Extermi- 
nator," and who had headquarters here. 

No hotels or boarding places. 

Reached by small boat from neighboring islands. 

Currency and language as in Guadeloupe, but 
English generally spoken or understood. 

Saint Christopher, more commonly Called 
St. Kitts 

One of the British Leeward Islands, sometimes 
called the "Mother of the British West Indies," as it 
was the first of the Lesser Antilles settled by the 
British. 

Volcanic, with an active crater, Mount Misery, 
about 4000 feet above the sea. Area about 75 square 
miles, much of which is cultivated. Fertile, well 
watered, and with mountains heavily wooded. 



APPENDIX 419 

Population about 35,000. Capital, Basseterre, with 
about 12,000 inhabitants. 

Principal products, sugar, molasses, and rum. 

Climate healthy and agreeable. 

Discovered by Columbus in 1493 and named in honor 
of his patron saint, owing to a fancied resemblance 
of its mountains to St. Christopher bearing the infant 
Jesus on his shoulder. Not named after Columbus 
himself as often alleged. First settled by the British in 
1623. Made untenable by pirates, whose settlements 
were finally destroyed and buccaneers driven away by 
combined attack of French, English, and Spanish in 
1630. Taken by the French in 1782, but ceded to 
England in 1783. 

Places of interest are not numerous about Basse- 
terre, but there is a pretty public garden and the 
roads are excellent. Outside of the city the main 
points of interest are Monkey Hill, Fort Brimstone, 
Mount Misery Crater, Wingfield Estate Cataract, 
Lawyer Stevens's Cave, etc. 

Several boarding places and one or two fair hotels 
at Basseterre. 

Horses, carriages, and motor cars for hire. 

Reached by Quebec S. S. Co. (about 8 days) 
from New York. By Royal Mail (Canadian) Line 
from Bermuda, Halifax, and other British islands, 
and, under normal conditions, by Royal Mail Steam 
Packet Co. 

Language, English. Currency, British, with Royal 
Bank of Canada and Colonial Bank notes in cir- 
culation. 



420 APPENDIX 

Santa Cruz or St. Croix 

An island about 60 miles south of St. Thomas and 
100 miles west of St. Kitts. One of the former Danish 
islands, transferred to the United States in 191 7. 

A hilly, limestone island about 20 miles long and 6 
miles wide. Area about 75 square miles with a large 
portion under cultivation. Fertile, well watered, and 
luxuriant, but not heavily wooded. 

Population about 30,000. Capital, Christiansted, 
on eastern coast. Chief port, Frederiksted, on western 
coast. 

Chief products, sugar, rum, molasses, and some fruit. 

Climate hot in the towns, but very equable and 
healthy and formerly a noted health resort. 

Discovered by Columbus, 1493. Settled by Dutch 
and English in 1625. Later taken by Spaniards and 
French, and in 1653 sold by Louis XIV to the Knights 
of Malta who were succeeded by the French West 
India Company in 1665. Deserted until 1733, when 
sold by French to Denmark for $375,000. In 
1867, Santa Cruz was subjected to an immense tidal 
wave which reached a height of sixty feet and carried 
the vessels in the harbor high and dry far from shore. 
Among the ships which were thus stranded was the 
United States frigate Monongahela which was left 
standing upright among the buildings of the town 
beyond a row of cocoanut trees, the ship actually 
having been carried over the palm trees. The vessel 
was launched after months of labor and was practi- 
cally unharmed and left under her own steam. In 



APPENDIX 421 

1878 a negro insurrection caused considerable damage, 
and occasional hurricanes have varied the monotony 
of the lives of the natives since then. 

No particular spots of interest. 

Fairly comfortable semi-hotels and boarding 
places. 

Reached by Quebec S. S. Co. (about 7 days) from 
New York. 

Horses, carriages, and automobiles for hire. 

Language, English (except among Danes). Cur- 
rency, Danish West Indian, but United States money 
accepted. 

Saint John 

Smallest of the three former Danish islands and a 
few miles east of St. Thomas. 

Rugged, heavily wooded, well watered, and once 
cultivated. 

Length about 9 miles; width about 5 miles. Area 
about 21 square miles. 

Population about 2000, nearly all negroes. 

Chief products, bay leaves and bay oil. 

Port, Coral Bay, with a splendid harbor, one of the 
best in the West Indies. 

Formerly a rendezvous of buccaneers. Rusty can- 
non and ruined pirate forts are to be found overgrown 
with vines and brush. 

Settled by the Danes in 1684. 

No hotels or boarding places. 

Reached by packet from St. Thomas. 

Language and currency as in St. Thomas. 



422 APPENDIX 

Saint Kitts 

The West Indian name for St. Christopher, which 
see. 

Saint Lucia 

A British island of the Windward Island group. 
About 20 miles north of St. Vincent, 100 miles west of 
Barbados, and 18 miles south of Martinique. 

Volcanic, with an active crater, the Soufriere, on 
southern part of island. Highest peaks, Morne 
Gimie and Piton Canaries, 3000 feet ; Grand and Petit 
Pitons rise directly from the sea off Soufriere Bay 
to a height of 2620 and 2460 feet. Length about 28 
miles; width about 15 miles. Area about 250 square 
miles. Heavily wooded, fertile, and well watered. 

Population about 50,000. Capital, Castries, with 
12,000 inhabitants. An important coaling station 
and strongly fortified. Sometimes called "The Gi- 
braltar of West Indies." 

Climate hot and not very healthy on coast. Cool 
and salubrious in the hills. Infestedby deadly fer-de- 
lance serpent. 

Chief products, cocoa, limes, spices, fruits, and 
dyewoods. 

Discovered by Columbus, 1502, on his fourth voy- 
age. First settled by British, 1605, when sixty-seven 
colonists arrived in Olive Blossom. They were at- 
tacked and massacred by the Caribs, and the twenty 
survivors fled to South America within a month 



APPENDIX 423 

after landing on the island. In 1635, French settlers 
attempted to take possession, but were driven out 
by British who were in turn killed and forced off by 
Caribs. For next two hundred years fought over by 
French and British until finally ceded to England in 
1814. 

Places of interest are the Public Gardens, coaling 
docks, Morne and Government House, Pitons, Crater 
at Soufriere. 

Several hotels and boarding places at Castries. 

Reached by Quebec S. S. Co. (about 14 days) from 
New York. By Royal Mail (Canadian) Line from 
Halifax, Bermuda, and British islands, and, under 
normal conditions, by Royal Mail Steam Packet 
Co. 

Language, English. Patois or Creole spoken by 
lower classes. Currency, British, but Royal Bank of 
Canada and Colonial Bank notes in circulation. 

Saint Martin 

Jointly French and Dutch, the northern half being 
under the jurisdiction of Guadeloupe while the south- 
ern half is under the government of Curacao. Situ- 
ated southwest of Anguilla and northwest of St. 
Kitts. 

A wooded, fertile, mountainous island. Area about 
40 square miles. Highest peak, Paradise Peak, 1900 
feet. 

Population of entire island about 8000, of whom 
about 3000 reside in French territory and 5000 in 
Dutch. 



424 APPENDIX 

Capitals: French, Marigot. Dutch, Philipsburg. 

Chief products, salt, vegetables, and cattle. Copper 
and manganese occur. 

Climate healthy and pleasant. 

Formerly a noted resort of pirates and buccaneers. 

No hotels. 

Reached by occasional steamers of Quebec Line, but 
usually only by sailing vessels or packet boats from 
St. Kitts, St. Croix, St. Thomas, or Curacao. 

Language, Dutch and French patois, but English 
quite generally spoken. Currency same as in Dutch 
and French colonies. 

Saint Thomas 

One of the Virgin Islands, about 40 miles east of 
Porto Rico. Until recently Danish. 

Mountainous but dry, barren, and little cultivated. 
Length about 13 miles; width about 3 miles. Area 
about 33 square miles. 

Population about 15,000, mostly colored. Capital 
and only port, Charlotte Amalie (sometimes spelled 
Amalia), with about 13,000 inhabitants. 

Formerly of great commercial importance, as it 
was a free port and possesses a large and magnificent 
harbor. Produces practically nothing but bay rum. 
An important coaling station. 

Climate healthy and pleasant. 

Discovered by Columbus, 1493. First settled by 
Danish under Erik Smidt, March 30, 1666. Taken 
by the Dutch under Governor Huntum. Recolonized 



APPENDIX 425 

by Danes, under Jorgen Iwerson, May 23, 1672. 
Iwerson, who was sent out by Danish West India and 
Guinea Company, became governor and was a most 
despotic ruler, but under him the island prospered. 
Succeeded by Nic Esmit, to whom Iwerson delivered 
the governorship upon his resignation. Soon after 
Iwerson set out to take charge again, but was thrown 
overboard by his mutinous crew on the voyage. 

On April 9, 1690, St. Thomas suffered from a severe 
earthquake, and soon after the entire island was 
leased out by the Danish King to the Brandenbergh 
Company which rapidly developed the commerce 
of the island. First destructive hurricane, 1697. 
In 1756 Dutch commerce was excluded, which almost 
ruined the island, and the King of Denmark rescinded 
all rights of the Brandenberghs. In 1800, British, 
under Colonel Cowell, seized St. Thomas, but within 
a year it was restored to Denmark. In 1804 and 
1806, island swept by fires, causing damage estimated 
at over sixteen million dollars. 

Again occupied by the British in 1807 and held by 
them until April 9, 18 15, when once more restored to 
the Danes. In 1 866 ravaged by yellow fever, smallpox, 
and cholera. October 29, 1866, loss of three hundred 
lives and seventy-seven vessels and immense damage 
by hurricane. November 18th of the same year tidal 
wave and earthquake did enormous damage. Another 
disastrous hurricane occurred in 1876, after which the 
town was rebuilt, sanitation was established, and 
the island greatly improved and modernized. 

Came under United States flag, April 191 7. 



426 APPENDIX 

Places of interest are: Bluebeard's and Black- 
beard's Castles, Ma Falie, from which a magnificent 
view may be obtained, old Danish fort, coaling docks, 
Sail Rock. 

Reached by Quebec S. S. Co., from New York 
and by various English, French, Italian, Dutch, Ger- 
man, and other lines from Europe and Porto Rico. 

Language officially Danish and currency that of 
Denmark, but English generally spoken except by 
officials and any money gladly accepted. 

A few fair hotels and boarding houses in Charlotte 
Amalie. 

Saint Vincent 

One of the British Windward Island group, about 
20 miles south of St. Lucia and ioo miles west of 
Barbados. 

Volcanic, mountainous, fertile, and heavily wooded. 
The active volcano, known as "Soufriere, " devastated 
an immense area and killed many people in 1812 and 
in May, 1902, destroyed 2000 lives and over one third 
of the island. 

Highest point, Morne Agarou, 4000 feet. Length 
about 18 miles; width about 11 miles. Area about 
140 square miles. 

Population about 50,000. Capital and chief port, 
Kingstown, with 5000 inhabitants. 

Principal products, cocoa, sugar, fruits, arrowroot. 

Climate very pleasant and healthy, one of the health- 
iest islands in West Indies. Temperature averages 
from 75°-8o° the year round. 



APPENDIX 427 

Places of interest: Botanic Gardens, established in 
1763, and first of their kind in America, old forts, 
volcanic district and crater, Carib settlement, drives 
through interior. 

No really good hotel, but several boarding places. 

Reached by small boat or packet from neighboring 
islands or by Royal Mail (Canadian) Line from Ber- 
muda, Halifax, or other English islands. 

Language, English. Many of the natives speak 
patois or Creole by preference. Currency, British, 
with Colonial and Royal Bank of Canada notes in 
circulation. 

San Domingo, properly Santo Domingo 

Second largest of the Greater Antilles. Situated 
about 65 miles west of Porto Rico and 50 miles east 
of Cuba. Divided into two independent republics, 
the eastern two thirds forming the Dominican Re- 
public, the remainder comprising the republic of 
Haiti or, as it is often called, "The Black Republic." 

A very large island, about 500 miles in length and 
175 miles wide, with an area of nearly 30,000 square 
miles. About the size of Maine; one fourth larger 
than Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and 
Connecticut combined; three times the size of Bel- 
gium; twice as large as Denmark, and only a trifle 
smaller than Ireland or Portugal. 

In addition to the main island there are the depend- 
ent islands of Gonaives, Tortuga, Saona, Alta Vela, 
and Beata, some of which are larger than any of the 



428 APPENDIX 

Lesser Antilles and which add over 600 square miles 
to the total area. Extremely mountainous, the high- 
est peak in the West Indies being Mount Loma Tina 
in the Dominican Republic, about 11,000 feet, with 
numerous peaks over 6000 feet in height. Between 
the mountain ranges are many wide elevated plains, 
broad fertile valleys, immense tablelands, and near 
the coasts vast rolling prairies or savannas. Heav- 
ily forested with valuable timber, such as mahogany, 
cedar, lancewood, ebony, logwood, lignum-vitae, and 
long leaf pine. Contains vast mineral resources, such 
as gold, mercury, manganese, lignite, iron, copper, 
lead, tin, bismuth, nickel, alum, kaolin, petroleum, 
salt, amber, etc. 

Well watered with three enormous rivers in the 
Dominican Republic and with numerous smaller 
rivers and countless streams. Three huge lakes in 
the southwestern part of the island. Only a small 
portion of the island is under cultivation. 

Population over two million (exact numbers un- 
obtainable), of whom about 600,000 reside in the 
Dominican Republic, while the Haitiens number about 
1,500,000. Practically all the Haitien population is 
black, while the people of the Dominican Republic 
are mainly white or light colored, only about 20 per 
cent, being of pronounced negro blood. 

Capital of the Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo 
City on the Ozama River on the southern coast, with 
about 30,000 inhabitants. Capital of Haiti, Port-au- 
Prince, with about 70,000 inhabitants. Other impor- 
tant ports are Puerto Plata, Samana, Macoris, Monte 



APPENDIX 429 

Christi, Sanchez, and Azua in the Dominican Republic; 
Cape Haitien, Aux Cayes, Jeremie, Jacmel, Gonaives, 
and Miragoane are important Haitien ports. In the 
Dominican Republic there are also several large 
interior towns, such as La Vega, San Francisco de 
Macoris, Santiago, and Moca. 

Climate healthy — where not ruined by human 
habitations and unsanitary conditions — and very 
pleasant. Almost any climate may be found by 
traveling inland from the coast. On the coast the 
temperature varies from 8o°-84° during the winter 
months and from 86°-90° during the summer. Nights 
very cool, from 48°-50° during winter and from 
7°°~75° m summer, due to northerly night winds. 

History bloody, turbulent, and closely associated 
with the most illustrious personages of early Spanish do- 
minion in the New World. Santo Domingo City is the 
oldest European city in America; on Santo Domingo 
the first settlement in the New World was established 
by Columbus; here the first gold was found by the 
Spaniards; on this island the first blood was shed in 
a battle between Europeans and Indians; Columbus 
was shipwrecked on the coast of this island; he was 
imprisoned in the fortress at Santo Domingo City ; the 
ruins of his son's house still stand; in Santo Domingo 
was founded the first university in America and 
Columbus is buried in the cathedral of the capital. 
Hernando Cortez, Ponce de Leon, Pizarro, Balboa, 
and many notable Spaniards lived on the island and 
set forth on their historic expeditions from its shores. 

Discovered by Columbus, December 6, 1492. 



430 APPENDIX 

First landing on northern coast near present site of 
Mole St. Nicholas. On Christmas Eve, at the place 
now known as Cape Haitien, the flagship Santa Maria 
was wrecked upon a reef and Columbus and his men 
were hospitably received by the native Indian cacique. 
The wreckage of the caravel was brought ashore and 
used in constructing a fort. Here forty of the men 
were left while Columbus continued his voyage 
eastward. In the following year he returned, to find 
his fort destroyed and the men massacred; and, at a 
spot fifty miles west of the present town of Puerto 
Plata, a new town was founded. This was called 
Isabella, but it endured only a short time, and to-day 
a few crumbling walls are all that mark this first 
European settlement in America. In 1496 Bartholo- 
mew Columbus founded Santo Domingo City, and the 
island rapidly prospered and became the richest of 
Spain's colonies. In 1795, Hispaniola, as it was 
called, was ceded to France by the treaty of Bale. 
After the downfall of Napoleon the eastern portion 
was returned to Spain, the portion now known as 
Haiti remaining as a colony of France. In 1822 
the Spanish portion placed itself under Haitien rule 
but withdrew after the revolution of 1843. Fearing 
negro invasion by the Haitiens the Spanish speaking 
portion of the island voluntarily went under Spanish 
rule in 1 861. In 1863 the Dominicans revolted and in 
1865 became independent. Since then the island 
has been torn by revolutions, massacres, and uprisings, 
the French or Haitien portion, which won its independ- 
ence in 1805, being especially noted for the massacres, 



APPENDIX 43i 

revolts, and uprisings which have prevented the island 
from developing or progressing. In 1905 the United 
States assumed charge of the customs in the Domini- 
can Republic and maintains a semi-supervision of its 
elections and government. A similar arrangement 
was made with Haiti in 19 16. 

Places of interest are numerous. There are no 
really first class hotels. (See Dominican Republic 
and Haiti.) 

Several railway lines in Dominican Republic. 
One from Puerto Plata to Santiago and another 
from Sanchez to La Vega. In Haiti, one railway 
is in operation from Port-au-Prince into the interior. 
(For steamship routes see Haiti and Dominican 
Republic.) 

Language in Dominican Republic, Spanish. In 
Haiti, French. 

Currency in Dominican Republic, United States. 
In Haiti, French and Haitien, but United States 
currency in common use. 

Saona 

A small island off the southeastern coast of Santo 
Domingo and belonging to the Dominican Republic. 
Brush- and chaparral-covered, infested with mos- 
quitoes, and of no importance. 

Sombrero 

A possession of Great Britain and most northerly 
of the eastern Caribbees. 



432 APPENDIX 

Barren, barely above sea level, and isolated. 

Useful only as a site for the lighthouse which marks 
the entrance to the Anegada Passage. Once the source 
of considerable phosphate rock. 

Statia 

The West Indian appellation of St. Eustatius, 
which see. 

Tobago 

A British island under jurisdiction of Trinidad 
and about thirty miles northeast of the latter. 

Volcanic, but of ancient formation; rough, well 
wooded, with many streams and very fertile. Physi- 
cally and geologically a portion of South America. 

Many small mountains or high hills interspersed 
with beautiful valleys. Highest peak, Pigeon Hill, 
1900 feet. 

Length about 26 miles; width about 8 miles. Area 
about 115 square miles or 74,000 acres, of which some 
53,000 are private lands, 6500 are a rain and forest 
reserve, and 14,000 are crown lands for sale. 

Population about 20,000. Capital, Scarborough, 
with 3000 inhabitants. 

Chief products, cocoanuts, cocoa, spices, fruit, 
cattle. 

Famous as the scene of Robinson Crusoe's story. 

Climate ver}^ healthy and delightful. 

One of the stormiest histories of any West Indian 
island. 

Discovered by Spanish. Settled by English, 1625. 



APPENDIX 433 

British driven out by Caribs and then colonized by 
Dutch in 1632. The Dutch were forced to leave by 
Spaniards from Trinidad and the next settlement 
was by the Duke of Courland, but his colony was 
destroyed by Hollanders in 1658. The French then 
drove off the Dutch and were themselves attacked 
and routed by British in 1666. The French retaliated 
by driving off the English and destroying their prop- 
erties, and by mutual agreement Tobago was deserted 
and left as a "neutral island" until 1673. 

Seized by British, who were attacked by the Dutch, 
and after six years of constant struggles between the 
French, English, and Dutch the island was restored to 
Holland in 1679. 

Once more declared a no-man's land in 1684, it was 
left to its Carib owners until 1744, when the French 
again took possession, only to be attacked by the 
British in 1762. A year later, 1763, ceded to Great 
Britain by treaty, but seized by French in 1781. 
Taken from them by the British in 1793, the latter 
were compelled to restore the island to France in 1802. 
Captured by the English for the last time in 1803, it 
was formally ceded to them in 1814 and has remained 
a British colony ever since. 

Places of interest are not numerous, the scenery 
being the island's chief attraction, although the caves 
are interesting and the natives will point out the 
original "Crusoe's Cave," as well as an alleged "foot- 
print" made by Robinson in the solid rock. 

No regular hotel that is good, but numerous board- 
ing places. 
28 



434 APPENDIX 

Reached by mail boats and intercolonial steamers 
from Trinidad. 

Language and currency as in Trinidad. 

Tortola 

One of the British Virgin Islands and largest of that 
group. Situated northeast of St. Thomas. 

A mountainous island 18 miles in length by 7 miles 
wide and with peaks reaching nearly 2000 feet above 
the sea. 

Capital, Roadtown, with about 500 inhabitants, 
nearly all of whom are blacks. 

Of no importance and almost deserted. Formerly 
the resort of buccaneers and pirates. 

No hotels or boarding places. 

Reached only by packet or sailboat from St. Thomas 
or St. Kitts. 

Language and currency as in neighboring British 
Islands. 

TORTUGA 

A large island belonging to Haiti and opposite 
Port de Paix. 

Heavily wooded, mountainous, and sparsely inhab- 
ited. About twenty miles in length by three miles 
wide and with a fine though small harbor. 

Formerly a stronghold of the buccaneers and doubt- 
less contains more buried treasure than any other 
spot in the Antilles. 



APPENDIX 435 

Settled by buccaneers and pirates in 1630 after 
they had been driven from St. Kitts and other resorts. 
All the ships and troops -sent against them by Spain, 
France and England, were unsuccessful, and for thirty 
years the freebooters held the island and defied the 
world. From this stronghold they sent expeditions 
throughout the Spanish Main, and Darien, Panama, 
and Porto Bello were sacked by pirates from Tortuga. 
When finally dispersed many of them settled on the 
mainland of Haiti and the Dominican Republic and 
turned cattlemen and planters. 

No hotels, boarding places, or accommodations of 
any sort. 

Reached only by small boat from Haitien ports. 

Language and currency as in Haiti. 

There is another Tortuga situated off the coast of 
Venezuela and belonging to that republic, but of no 
importance. Neither of these should be confounded 
with the Dry Tortugas, which are small cays west of 
Key West and belonging to the United States. 

Trinidad 

Most southerly of West Indies and largest of British 
islands with exception of Jamaica. Northeast of 
Venezuela, from which it is separated only by the Gulf 
of Paria and the narrow straits or "Bocas" a few 
hundred feet in width. 

Length about 55 miles; width about 40 miles, 
with an area of about 1750 square miles or 1,122,880 
acres, with about 350,000 acres under cultivation. 



436 APPENDIX 

Extremely rugged and mountainous in the northern 
part; wide plains and rolling hilly country in the 
south. Very fertile and well watered and heavily 
wooded. Mainly of volcanic but ancient formation 
with considerable areas of calcareous formation and in 
reality merely a bit of the South American continent 
with practically the same flora and fauna. 

Highest peak, Tucutche, 3012 feet. 

Population about half a million. Capital and 
principal port, Port of Spain, with 70,000 inhabi- 
tants. 

Resources enormous; petroleum, asphalt, and many 
minerals abound; the forests are filled with valuable 
timber, and agricultural possibilities are almost 
unlimited. 

Chief products, asphalt, petroleum, cocoa, coffee, 
sugar, timber, balata, cocoanuts, spices, etc. 

Climate very hot on coast of the Gulf, but cool and 
pleasant in highlands and on windward coast. Healthy 
as a whole. 

Discovered by Columbus, July 31, 1498, and named 
in honor of the three prominent peaks now known as 
the "Three Sisters." 

First settled by Spanish under Don Antonio de 
Berrio y Oruna at site of present town of St. Joseph 
and which they named San Jose* de Oruna. At- 
tacked and captured by Sir Walter Raleigh, in 1595, 
who was exploring the vicinity in his search for El 
Dorado. 

The island, however, remained a Spanish possession 
until 1797, when captured by the British under Sir 



APPENDIX 437 

Ralph Abercromby. Has remained a British colony 
from that date until the present time. 

Places of interest are many. About Port of Spain 
may be mentioned the Savanna or Queen's Park; 
coolie villages; Five Islands, the Bocas, and the 
caverns near St. Joseph; Government House and 
Public Gardens. Within easy reach are the Blue 
Basin, Maraccas Waterfall, Maraval Reservoir, 
Caura Cataract, Mud Volcanoes near Princes Town. 
San Fernando is an interesting and important town 
connected with Port of Spain by railway and with 
Brighton, La Brea, and other ports on the Gulf by 
steamboats. Trinidad's greatest "sight" is the fa- 
mous Pitch Lake at Brighton, from which a large 
portion of the world's supply of asphalt is obtained. 
The numerous oil wells are also worth seeing, but as 
there are several about the Pitch Lake those who 
visit this natural wonder will be able to satisfy their 
curiosity without making a special trip to the oil 
wells. 

Excellent hotels and many boarding places at Port 
of Spain. Houses and bungalows, furnished, for rent 
on the islands in the Gulf. 

Horses, carriages, and automobiles, as well as boats, 
for hire. Trolley lines reach all parts of Port of Spain 
and the nearby villages and places of interest. Rail- 
way lines and coastal steamers ply between all 
principal towns and agricultural districts. Roads 
excellent, many of asphalt, and reaching all parts of 
the island. Telephone and telegraph systems every- 
where. 



438 APPENDIX 

Reached by Trinidad Line (Trinidad Trading & 
Shipping Co.) from New York (8 days). By Royal 
Mail (Canadian Line) boats from Halifax, Bermuda, 
and other British possessions. By Royal Dutch 
West India Line from New York, via Haiti and 
Venezuela. By French, Italian, and Spanish ships 
from various South American ports. Ships of the 
Lamport and Holt, Lloyd Braziliero, and Booth lines 
frequently make Trinidad a port of call from Brazil- 
ian ports en route to New York. River steamers 
may be taken to Ciudad Bolivar on the Orinoco and 
trips may readily be made to Margarita, Curacao, 
Venezuela, and the Guianas. 

Language, English, but nearly all merchants and 
many of the other people speak Spanish and French, 
as there is a very large Latin-American and French 
population. Currency, British, but Royal Bank of 
Canada, Colonial Bank, and Trinidad (local) notes 
are used largely and United States currency passes 
freely everywhere. 

Union 

One of the Grenadines, about midway between St. 
Vincent and Grenada. Rich, fertile, and well wooded. 
Noted for its boats. Formerly headquarters of an 
important whale fishery. See Grenadines. 

Virgin Gorda 

One of the British Virgin Islands and second largest 
of the group. 



APPENDIX 439 

About 8 miles in length with an area of about 
50,000 acres. Mountains 1500 feet in height. Gold, 
silver, and copper exist, but have not been exploited. 

Formerly a lair of the buccaneers. 

Reached only by small boat or packet from neigh- 
boring islands. 

Virgin Islands' 



A chain or group of rather small islands, thirty or 
forty in number, many of which are mere reefs or rocks 
and situated east of Porto Rico and about forty miles 
distant from that island at the nearest point. 

Strictly speaking the Virgin Islands include St. 
Thomas and St. John, but the term is usually applied 
to the British islands only. These are Tortola, Virgin 
Gorda, Anegada, Norman Island, etc., with a total 
area of about sixty square miles. 

Mostly rough, well wooded, and many rich in min- 
eral resources, but sparsely inhabited and with a 
total population of about five thousand, nearly all 
blacks and colored people. 

In early days the favorite resort of pirates and free- 
booters whose occupancy is perpetuated in the names 
of many of the islets, such as Dead Man's Chest, Rum 
Island, Dutchman's Cap, etc. 

Reached only by small boat from neighboring 
islands. 

Language and currency as in St. Kitts and other 
British colonies. 



440 



APPENDIX 

Windward Islands 



A federation of British islands, comprising St. 
Lucia, St. Vincent, Grenada, and the Grenadines. 
Seat of government at Grenada. See under separate 
islands for further data. 




USEFUL BITS OF INFORMATION 

Automobiles 

In practically every island, with the exception of 
Bermuda, there are numerous automobiles. In some 
of the smaller and more mountainous islands the extent 
of roads adapted to motor cars is very limited, but in 
most of the islands one can reach all the larger towns 
and villages by automobile. It is hardly worth while 
for the visitor to take a car to the West Indies, unless 
he expects to remain in one island for some time; but 
if spending a few weeks in Porto Rico, Cuba, Jamaica, 
Trinidad, or Barbados by all means take a car if possi- 
ble. The freight charges are low, there is no duty — 
or else the duty collected will be refunded when the 
machine is taken from the island — and one can see 
much more of the country and may have a much more 
enjoyable time with a private car than if depending 
upon hiring one. 

Banks 

In every island there are branches of the Colonial 
Bank of London, the Royal Bank of Canada, or other 
large banking houses where letters of credit, money 
orders, travelers' checks may be cashed and any other 
banking business may be negotiated. 

441 



442 USEFUL BITS OF INFORMATION 
Bathing 

In nearly every island there is excellent bathing, 
both in fresh and salt water. Owing to the danger 
of bathing in unfamiliar places it is always advisable 
to ask the natives for advice and information before 
entering the water. In many places the poisonous 
manchineel tree grows close to the water and is 
liable to cause severe, or even dangerous, irritation of 
the skin; while in other places, sea-urchins with their 
poisonous brittle spines, Portuguese men-of-war with 
their stinging tentacles, the savage barracouta fish, or 
other dangerous forms of animal life are abundant. 
Sharks are the least of all dangers and the natives 
seldom pay any attention to them, as the sharks found 
in shallow water are usually harmless species or are 
too well fed on offal to molest human beings. 

Beggars 

In some of the islands beggars are very persistent 
and numerous, but it is mistaken charity to give them 
anything, as most of them are professionals, and if the 
visitor tosses coins to one he will be followed and 
besieged by scores of others. In every island there 
are charitable institutions and hospitals. Moreover, 
it is impossible for the natives to suffer from cold or 
exposure in the tropics and almost as impossible for 
them to go hungry. In the English colonies begging 
is prohibited by law. 



USEFUL BITS OF INFORMATION 443 
Boats 

In many of the islands it is necessary to take small 
boats from the ship to shore and vice versa. The 
charges are very low, but a bargain should always be 
made in advance and payment for the round trip should 
not be made until one is back aboard ship, as otherwise 
the boatman may refuse to put you aboard without 
an exorbitant charge. In most of the islands, how- 
ever, the tariff is fixed by law and any complaint 
made to a policeman will have prompt and satisfactory 
attention. 

Cablegrams 

All the islands are connected with Europe and the 
United States by cables and in many there are also 
wireless stations. Cable charges are reasonable, but 
during the war messages are subject to censorship in 
the British and French colonies. 

Climate 

Although often very hot at midday, yet the climate 
of the West Indies is far more equable than our 
summers, and the humid, prostrating heat of our north- 
ern cities is unknown. Sunstrokes never occur, but it 
is wise to remain quiet during the heat of the day and 
take walks and other exercise early in the mornings 
and late in the afternoons. The nights are usually 
cool, and by ascending the hills or mountains, one may 



444 USEFUL BITS OF INFORMATION 

find almost any climate desired. The difference in 
temperature between winter and summer is very 
slight, many of the islands possessing a climate so 
equable that a variation of five degrees through the 
year is rare. During the summer, however, there is a 
great deal of rain, and gales and hurricanes occur, 
the latter usually following a well defined area or belt 
and seldom extending beyond it. Hurricanes, how- 
ever, are a much exaggerated bugaboo and seldom cause 
loss of life or serious damage. We read of hundreds of 
houses being destroyed, but after seeing the flimsy 
"houses" of palm and thatch, the wonder is that any 
survive a decent gale. In many of the islands hurri- 
canes have never occurred, and no one need hesitate 
to visit the ' West Indies for fear of these tropical 
storms. 

Clothing 

The clothing worn in the West Indies is much the 
same as that worn in the United States in midsummer. 
White duck, pongee, Palm Beach cloth and flannels are 
the favorite materials, but in the British colonies serges, 
tweeds, and other heavy goods are worn for formal 
occasions, while in the highlands spring weight cloth- 
ing should be worn and light overcoats are often neces- 
sary. Woolen underclothing is preferable to cotton if 
one expects to take much exercise. For head-covering 
felt, straw, and Panama hats are worn, as are pith 
and cork helmets. There are no particular styles for 
clothing in the islands and one may dress to suit one's 



USEFUL BITS OF INFORMATION 445 

own personal tastes and requirements; besides, what- 
ever an American does or wears is looked upon as a 
"Yankee" characteristic, for the ways of the Ameri- 
can are unfathomable to the West Indian. 

Criminals 

As a whole, the islands are wonderfully free from 
crimes and criminals. In many places burglary, 
robbery, murder, assault, and other serious offenses are 
unknown and there is not an island in the "West 
Indies — with the exception of Haiti — where a white 
man or woman may not go where and when he or 
she desires in perfect safety. 

Diseases 

Compared to our own cities there are few contagious 
diseases in the West Indies and practically no danger 
of the casual visitor contracting them. Typhoid is 
prevalent in some portions of Santo Domingo. Small- 
pox of a very mild form sometimes occurs in the vari- 
ous islands; but malaria, mild stomach and bowel 
complaints, and dysentery are the commonest ailments. 
Most of the cases of stomach and bowel trouble may 
be traced to carelessness and overindulgence in fruits ; 
or are due to sitting in wet or damp garments. Malaria 
is no more common than in the United States and is 
no more dangerous, save in the swampy, unhealthy 
districts. With reasonable care and common sense 
one may avoid all illness in the West Indies just as well 



446 USEFUL BITS OF INFORMATION' 

as at home. The natives often suffer from loathsome 
skin and filarial diseases, but in most places they are 
now shut up in well-conducted hospitals, and more- 
over Northerners seldom or never contract these 
diseases. 

Duties 

There is no trouble or inconvenience in regard to 
customs or duties, as in all the islands a reasonable 
amount of dutiable articles are admitted free and in 
most of the islands the officials are far more lenient 
in this respect than in the United States. 

Expenses 

Although living is cheap in the West Indies, it is 
only comparatively so. If one lives upon native food 
and lives as do the better class of West Indians the 
cost of living is very low, but if one lives as in the 
States the expenses will mount rapidly. In most of 
the hotels the rates are reasonable, but the visitor 
must not expect the same service, food, and attention 
as in hotels of equal standing at home. Labor, boat 
and carriage hire, and similar expenses are very low. 

Food 

As a general rule the food of the West Indies is 
similar to that of the mother country of the particular 
island. Fish is extensively eaten, local vegetables are 



USEFUL BITS OF INFORMATION 447 

always served, and white potatoes are usually con- 
sidered a necessity for strangers, although the soggy 
imported tubers are far inferior to the native yams, 
sweet potatoes, bread-fruit, taro, etc. 

Many of the islands have certain local dishes 
peculiar to themselves and which are delicious. Thus, 
there are the giant frogs or "Crapaud" of Dominica, 
known as Mountain Chicken; the iguanas or giant 
lizards of the various islands; the famed Flying Fish 
Cutlets and Sea Eggs of Barbados, etc. Native 
meat, as a rule, is tough and poor, but mutton is 
usually good and there are always fowl and turkeys 
in abundance and one's health will be far better if 
little meat is eaten. 

Fruit 

The number of fruits which are seen in the West 
Indies is almost unlimited. Aside from the well 
known oranges, citrus fruits, melons, pineapples, 
mangos, avocado-pears, etc., there are innumerable 
strange fruits never seen in the Northern markets. 
It is a wise plan not to indulge too freely in fruit at 
first, however, but to accustom oneself gradually, 
regardless of the temptation to try every new fruit one 
sees. 

Contrary to the ideas of many people, the West 
Indian fruits have definite seasons, as do our own, 
and while some varieties are to be had throughout 
the year they are at their best during certain months, 
while others cannot be obtained except at their 



448 USEFUL BITS OF INFORMATION 

regular season. As the seasons for the fruits vary 
in the different islands, no hard and fast list can be 
made. A large number of the best fruits are in bear- 
ing only during the summer months and hence are 
seldom seen by the ordinary tourist. 

The following list will prove a fairly accurate guide 
to the fruits in season during the various months of 
the year: 

January. Orange, malacca-apple, tamarind, 

belle-apple. 
February. Orange, cashew, star-apple, tamarind, 

mamee-apple, sapodilla. 
March. Orange, star-apple, balata, cashew, 

shaddock, sapodilla. 

April. Orange, cashew, mamee-apple, star- 

apple, custard-apple, pineapple, sapo- 
dilla, cashew. 

May. Orange, pineapple, sapodilla, rose-apple, 

sapote, mamee-apple, cashew, cus- 
tard apple, jambolan. 

June. Mango, malacca-apple, cashew, pine- 

apple, sapodilla, grenadilla, belle- 
apple, melons, gru-gru. 

July. Mango, sapodilla, malacca-apple, 

sugar-apple, mamee, guava, soursop, 
avocado-pear, gru-gru. 

August. Mango, avocado-pear, sugar-apple, 

guava, orange, governor-plum, hog- 
plum, shaddock, mamee. 



USEFUL BITS OF INFORMATION 449 

September. Mangosteen, golden-apple, governor- 
plum, guava, orange, avocado-pear, 
sugar-apple. 

October. Mangosteen, avocado-pear, grena- 
dilla, soursop, sapodilla, sugar-apple, 
orange, pois-doux. 

November. Orange, guava, sapodilla, sugar-apple, 
pois-doux, avocado-pear, shaddock. 

December. Orange, balata, guava, avocado-pear, 
melons, sapodilla. 

Insect Pests 

Many people imagine that the West Indies swarm 
with noxious insects. In reality insects are no more 
troublesome than in the United States, unless one goes 
into the forest or " bush." Mosquitoes occur in all the 
islands, but are seldom as abundant as in the North, 
and in every respectable house and hotel the beds are 
protected by mosquito nets. Window or door screens 
are seldom necessary. Flies are not as abundant as in 
the North, but ants of innumerable varieties are very 
troublesome. The huge wild cockroaches at times 
invade houses at night, but the small Croton bugs and 
house roaches are almost unknown. The most 
troublesome insect is the red-bug or "Bete Rouge," a 
tiny spider-like pest that buries under one's skin, caus- 
ing intense itching and irritation. They are found only 
on weeds and grass and the best remedy is to rub the 
afflicted parts with some greasy ointment or to touch 
each red spot, where a "Bete Rouge" is buried under 
29 



450 USEFUL BITS OF INFORMATION 

the skin, with a drop of iodine. In some places they 
are very abundant, while in others they are never 
found. Centipedes and scorpions, as well as wood- 
ticks, are not common, and save in the "bush" one 
seldom sees them. Their bites or "stings" are no 
more to be feared than the sting of a bee or hornet. 



Ownership 

The islands comprise British, French, Dutch, Vene- 
zuelan, and United States colonies, and independent 
republics; Great Britain owning the majority. The 
islands are divided between various governments as 
follows : 

Great Britain. Jamaica, Bahamas, Turks Islands, 
Bermuda, Caymans, Leeward and Windward 
Islands, British Virgin Islands, Barbados, Trini- 
dad, and Tobago. 

France. Martinique, Guadeloupe, Marie Galante, 
The Saintes, Desirade, half of St. Martin. 

Holland. Curagao, Buen Aire, Oruba, Saba, St. 
Eustatius, half of St. Martin and dependencies. 

Venezuela. Aves, Margarita, and other islets off the 
coast. 

United States. Porto Rico, Vieques, Culebra, 
Mona, St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. John. 

Independent Republics. Cuba, Haiti, Dominican 
Republic. 



L USEFUL BITS OF INFORMATION 451 
Passports 

Although passports are not essential, except in Haiti 
and the Dominican Republic, yet it is a wise plan to 
carry a passport, especially during the war, as both the 
British and French authorities are very suspicious of 
strangers who stop in their West Indian colonies. If 
merely taking- the round trip a passport is unnecessary. 

Photographs 

In nearly every island there are photographers, and 
views and postcards may be purchased, and in all the 
larger islands photographic films and supplies may be 
purchased. 

In Porto Rico, Cuba, Trinidad, Barbados, and 
Jamaica there are competent photographers where 
films may be developed and printed satisfactorily. 
There is no objection to visitors taking pictures, or 
using cameras, in any of the islands under normal 
conditions, but during the war many of the British 
colonies have prohibited the use of cameras, and in all 
of the French and British islands the photographing 
of forts, troops, war vessels, or defenses, as well as wire- 
less stations, is strictly prohibited and any one found 
taking such pictures, or with them in his possession, is 
liable to arrest and to have the camera, films, and 
pictures confiscated. By inquiring of the customs or 
police officers who board the ship at every port the 
visitor can obtain information in regard to such mat- 
ters and thus avoid a great deal of unpleasantness. 



452 USEFUL BITS OF INFORMATION 
Railways 

With the exception of Barbados and Trinidad, none 
of the Lesser Antilles have railway lines. The Greater 
Antilles, however, are all provided with railways, 
Cuba leading all the islands in the extent of its lines, 
with Jamaica next, followed by Porto Rico and Santo 
Domingo. 

Snakes 

With the exception of Trinidad, Martinique, and 
St. Lucia, none of the islands are infested with poison- 
ous snakes, and in those three islands the venomous 
serpents are rare and seldom seen. The fer-de- 
lance, which occurs in Martinique and St. Lucia, is 
an introduced species and in the former island was 
largely exterminated by the Mt. Pelee eruption. 
Even in St. Lucia and Trinidad there is less danger of 
being bitten by a poisonous snake than on the Pali- 
sades of the Hudson or in any of the mountain resorts 
of the United States. In all the other islands, small, 
useful, non-poisonous snakes are found, but are seldom 
seen. Lizards of many species are very abundant and 
are always in evidence, but all are absolutely harmless 
and are protected and encouraged, as they are most 
useful in catching and devouring ants, flies, mos- 
quitoes, and other insects. 



INDEX 



PAGE 

Abaco Island 355. 

Acklin Island 355. 

Aguadilla 246. 

Aibonito 239, 240. 

Ajuntas 244, 245. 

Alameda 346. 

Andros Island 355. 

Anegada 351. 

Anglican Church.. . 58, 59, 357. 

Anguilla 351. 

Antigua 56, 352, 406. 

, sights 353. 

Antilla 327. 

Antomarchi, Doctor 345. 

Arecibo 245. 

Arecibo Road 244. 

Arroyo 252. 

Atares Castle 318. 

Automobiles 441. 

Aves 354. 

Azua 213. 

Bahamas 4, 354. 

, sights 356. 

Balcieux 356. 

Banks 441. 

Baracoa 327. 

Barbados 357. 

, sights 360, 361. 

Barbuda 60, 61, 361, 406. 

Bartholomew Las Casas, 345. 

Basseterre 49, 66, 70. 

Bath Estate 78. 

Bathing 442. 

Baths of St. Thomas the 
Apostle 286 



PAGE 

Battowia (vide Grenadines) 

395. 

Bayamon 254. 

Beata 362. 

Beggars 442. 

Bellamar Caves 323. 

Bequia 362. 

Bermuda 362 ff. 

, sights 365, 366. 

Bermudez, Juan 13. 

Biminis Islands 355. 

"Blackbeard's Castle" 34. 

Black Bang's Castle,.223, 224 ff . 

Blue Basin 155. 

"Bluebeard's Tower" 34. 

Blue Mountain Peak, 274, 516. 

Boats 443. 

Bog Walk 271. 

Boiling Lake 79. 

Bonaire 366. 

Botanic Garden 125. 

Botanic Stations.. . .59, 77, 78. 

Bridgetown 103 ff. 

Brighton 161, 162. 

British Virgin Islands 406. 

Buen Ayre 366. 

Cabanas Castle 316. 

Cablegrams 443. 

Caguas 236, 237, 253. 

Caicos Island 299, 355. 

Camaguey 338, 339 ff. 

Camelo, Ferdinand 13. 

Cane River Pall 287. 

Cannouan (vide Grenadines) 

395- 



453 



454 



INDEX 



PAGE 

Cardenas 325. 

Carriacou . . .367. 

Castle Harbor. 23. 

Castleton Gardens. . .272, 273. 

Castries 91, 93. 

Cathedral of the Immacu- 
late Conception 153. 

Cathedral Rocks 2j, 29. 

Cat Island 355. 

Caura Waterfalls 157. 

Caymans 367. 

Cayo Levantado 185. 

Cayo Smith 350. 

Charlotte Amalie 31, 32. 

Christiansted 38. 

Cienfuegos 331. 

Ciudad Bolivar 165. 

Climate 443. 

Clothing 444. 

Coamo Springs 241. 

Coast Islands 4. 

Cobre 347. 

Cockpit Country 284. 

Codrington College 113. 

Codringtons 60, 61. 

Cojimar 321. 

Cole's Cave 114. 

College of Pious Souls... 321. 

Colon Market 311. 

Colon Park 308. 

Columbus, Bartholomew, 211. 
Columbus, Christopher: 

Battle with savages. . . . 185. 

House 204. 

Palace. 206. 

Prison 202. 

Remains 207. 

Square 249. 

Statues 207, 294. 

Comercio 255, 256. 

Comercio Road 254. 

Cortez 344. 

Crab Island 368. 

Criminals 445. 

Crittenden 318. 

Cuba 368 ff. 

, history. ... t 372. 



PAGE 

Cuba, sights 380, 381. 

Culebra 381. 

, sights 382. 

Curagao 166 ff., 382. 

Damiju River 332. 

Deseada 383. 

Desirade 383, 395. 

De Soto 313, 314. 

"Devil's Hole" 21, 22. 

Diablotin 73. 

Diamond Rock 89, 90. 

Diseases 445. 

Dominica 68, 383, 406. 

, history 384. 

, sights 384, 385. 

Dominican Republic, 

174. 3S5 ff- 

, history 388. 

, sights 3S8, 389. 

Don Christopher's Cove. .281. 

Dry Harbor 287. 

Dumas, Alex., birthplace.. 222. 
Duties 446. 

Eel Island 352. 

El Caney 347. 

Eleuthera Island 355. 

English Cathedral 270. 

Expenses 446. 

Exuma Island 355. 

Farley Hall 1 13. 

Fern Gully 286. 

Fig Tree Church 53. 

Five Islands 145, 157. 

"Five Sisters" 28. 

Food 446. 

Fort Charlotte 295. 

Fort-de-France ,83, 84. 

Fort Fincastle 294. 

Fort Frederick 135. 

Fort George 134, 135. 

Fort Matthew 135. 

Fort St. George 25. 

Fortune Island -355« 

Frederick Street 149. 



INDEX 



455 



PAGE 

Fruit 447. 

Funston, Gen. Fred 342. 

Garcia, Gen 342. 

Gibara 326, 327. 

Gibb's Hill Light 29. 

"Gibraltar of the West 

Indies" 89, 91 

Glass Window 365. 

Golden Vale 281. 

Gonaives (Gonave) 390. 

Gordon Town 273. 

Gorgeous Isle, The 53. 

Grand Pitons 96. 

Grande Terre 395. 

Grand Turk 355. 

Gran Etang 137, 138, 139. 

Great Bahama 355. 

Greater Antilles 4. 

Great Inagua Island 355. 

Green Hole 132. 

Grenada 390. 

, history. 391 ff. 

, sights 394. 

Grenadines 395. 

Guadeloupe 395. 

, sights 396. 

Guanabacoa 320. 

Guanica 250. 

Guayama 251, 252. 

Gulf of Paria 144, 145. 

Gun Hill 113. 

Habanilla Falls 332. 

Haiti 174, 213 ff., 397 ff. 

, history 398 ff. 

, sights 399. 

Half -Way-Tree 272. 

Hamilton, Alexander, 

i j 17, 18, 20. 

, birthplace 53. 

Harbor Island 355. 

Havana 300 ff . 

, sights 374 ff. 

Hermitage of Monteserrate, 

324- 
Hispaniola 174. 



PAGE 

Hog Island 296. 

Hole in the Wall 356. 

Holy Trinity 153. 

Homenaje 201, 202. 

Hope Gardens 272. 

Humacao 253. 

Isabella 177. 

Isabella la Torre 178. 

Isle of Pines 328, 329, 400. 

Insect pests 449. 

Jagua Bay 330. 

Jamaica 401 ff. 

, history 402 ff. 

, sights 405. 

Jamestown 53. 

Josephine, Empress, 82, 84, 85. 
Judgment Cliff 286. 

King's House 272. 

Kingston 265 ff. ,401. 

Kingstown 125. 

La Coupe 122. 

La Ferriere 225. 

La Fuerza 313. 

Lake Killarney 356. 

"Lake of Fire" 296. 

La Lonja 316. 

La Merced 339. 

La Socapa 350. 

Las Tunas 342. 

La Vega 190, 191, 196, 197. 

La Vega la Vieja 197. 

Laurel Ditch 317. 

Leeward Islands 4, 406. 

Lesser Antilles 4. 

Little Snake 532. 

Long Cay Island 355. 

Long Island 355. 

Los Angeles Church 312. 

"MaFalie" 34. 

Malecon 304. 

Mandeville 283. 

Manzanillo 333. 



456 



INDEX 



PAGE 

Maraccas Waterfall 156. 

Maraval Reservoir 155- 

Marianao 32 I. 

Marie Galante 395, 4«7- 

Margarita 4° 6 - 

Marine Square 148, 149. 

Market, Fort-de-France 85. 

Martinique 68, 407. 

, sights 4°8. 

Matanzas 3 22 - 

Maunabo 252. 

May, Henry 13, J 4- 

Mayaguana Island 355. 

Mayaguez 244, 247, 248 ff . 

Military Road 232, 253. 

Mona 409- 

Monkey Hill 5*. 

Montego Bay 285. 

Montserrat 61 ff., 406, 409. 

Moore, Thomas 22. 

Moore Town 282. 

Morne Agarou 124. 

Morne Bruce 7 8 » 

Morne Ferdon 14°* 

Morro 227, 231, 300, 349. 

Monro Castle 316. 

Mountain Lake 78. 

Mount Hillaby 112. 

Mount Misery 48, 51. 

Mount Pelee 121. 

Nassau 292 ff., 355- 

National Palace 221. 

Nevis 47, 4° 6 , 4 I °- 

, sights 4 11 - 

NewCastle 274. 

New Providence 291, 292. 

New Providence Island. . .355- 

Norman Island 4 11 - 

Nuestra Sefiora de la Caridad, 

340. 347, 348- 

Nuevitas 326. 

Old Harbor Bay 271. 

Oracabessa Bay 286. 

Oruba 4 11 - 



PAGE 

"Overflowed Island" 351. 

Oviedo 209. 

Ownership 45°» 

"Parque Central". . .304. 3°5- 

Passports 45 1 * 

Patillas 252. 

Patti, Adelina 345- 

Peace Tree 347* 

Pelee 81. 

Petit Pitons 96. 

Photographs 45 1 * 

Pigeon Hill 171. 

Pirate Henry Morgan, 262, 263. 

Pitch Lake 158, 162 ff. 

Plaza Colon 232. 

Plymouth 62 ff. 

Point-a-Pitre 66 ff. 

Ponce 241 ff. 

Ponce de Leon: 

House 227. 

Remains .230. 

Port Antonio 279, 280 ff. 

Port-au-Prince 221, 222 ff., 

397 ff- 

Porter, Commodore 41. 

Port of Spain.. 145, 146, 148 ff. 

Porto Rico 4 12 ff- 

, history 413, 4H- 

, sights 4 I 5- 

Port Royal 263, 274. 

Prado 304, 308. 

Principe Fort 3 11 - 

Public Garden, St. Kitts. . .51. 

Puerta Tierra 233. 

Puerto Plata 178, 179* 

PuntaFort 3°9- 

Queen Anacaona 207, 211. 

Queen's Park 153, I S4- 

Ragged Island 355- 

Redonda 4 l6 - 

Rio Cobre 269, 271, 277. 

RiodeOro 271. 

Rio Nuevo 286. 

RioPiedras 235. 



INDEX 



457 



PAGE 

Roaring River Falls 287. 

Robinson Crusoe's residence, 
169, 170. 

Rodney Monument 269. 

Roseau 73 ff . 

Rum Cay Island 355. 

Saba 42 ff., 416. 

, sights 417. 

Sagua la Grande 326. 

St. Ann's 286. 

St. Bartholomew (St. Barts), 
41, 418. 

St. Catherine's Park 274. 

St. Christopher (St. Kitts), 418. 

St. Croix 36 ff. 

St. Eustatius 44 ff. 

St. George 17, 18, 20, 130. 

St. George Hotel 24. 

St. George Somers 25. 

St. John 35 ff., 55,57, 

58, 352, 421. 

St. John's Wood in. 

St. Kitts 47, 406. 

, history 419. 

St. Lucia 422 ff. 

St. Martin 423. 

St. Pierre 81, 82, 83. 

St. Thomas 31 ff., 424. 

, sights 425, 426. 

St. Vincent 426. 

, Soufriere, 79, 118 ff., 121. 

Saintes (The) 395, 417. 

Samana Bay 184, 185. 

Sanchez 188. 

San Cristobal 228, 231. 

San Domingo (Santo Domingo), 
427 ff., 429 ff. 

, sights 431. 

San Fernando 158, 159 ff. 

San Francisco. 211. 

San German 294, 295. 

San Geronimo 233. 

San Juan 227, 228 ff. 

San Juan Hill 347. 

San Miguel 212. 

San Nicolas 210. 



PAGE 

San Pedro de Macoris .... 199, 
200 ff. 

San Salvador Island 355. 

San Sebastian 231. 

Santa Ana Church 229. 

Santa Barbara de Samana, 187. 

Santa Clara 335. 

Santa Cruz 36 ff., 420. 

Santiago 182, 334, 343 ff. 

, sights 380. 

Santo Cerro 197, 198. 

Santo Domingo 212. 

, Cathedral 207. 

, City 201 ff. 

Saona 431. 

Scarborough 172. 

Sea Gardens 356. 

Sendall Tunnel 133. 

Sevilla del Oro 287. 

Sombrero 431. 

Somers, Sir George 14. 

Soufriere 78. 

, ruins 126. 

Spanish Town 268. 

Statia(wide St. Eustatius), 44 ff. 

Tacon Market 311. 

Tamarind Tree Church. . .271. 

Templete 312. 

Tobago 169 ff. 

, history 432, 433. 

Tortola 434. 

Tortuga 434. 

Trinidad 333, 435 ff. 

, history. 436. 

, sights 437. 

Tucker's Town 25. 

Turks Islands 297. 

Union 438. 

University, First American, 

212. 
Utuado 245. 

"Vale of Paradise" 223. 

Valley of Petrifactions. . . .353. 
Vedado 310. 



458 



INDEX 



PAGE 

Vega Real 192, 199. 

Velasquez 344. 

Virgin Gorda 438. 

Virgin. Islands 4, 439. 

Vita : 326. 

Walsingham 22, 23. 

Washington, George, 116, 117. 
, gunpowder plot 15. 



PAC2 

Wag Water Valley 279. 

Watling's Island 355. 

Willemstadt 166. 

Windward Islands 4, 440. 

Yumuri Valley 322, 323. 

Zaza del Medio 336. 

















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